Kairos: A Flame in the Void
by Keolah
Summary: Kairos. The moment to act. A choice that can change the course of history. Aviel Tintallia attempts to guide the course of history from the distant past. Her choices may yet cause the salvation or destruction of a universe.
1. The Nature of the Void

**A/N: I wrote this for Camp NaNoWriMo, July 2011. This is a massive multi-universe crossover story. The primary crossovers are Warhammer 40,000 and (old) World of Darkness (Vampire: the Masquerade and Werewolf: the Apocalypse) Also appearing are Star Trek, Stargate, Ender's Game, and Bolo.**

**Also, like my Stormseeker Saga, it's centered around Torn Elkandu, an original universe designed as a sort of crossover hub.**

* * *

**The Nature of the Void**

It was on Til'raine that I discovered it. Perhaps I had always known that it existed, but it was then and there that its nature truly became clear to me.

It is death. It is the destruction of the universe. It is the end of all things. And it had come to claim Til'raine.

Rarely can it work directly. It cannot merely obliterate things without consequence. But it works slowly, corrupting and unraveling what had been built, until everything comes undone and all is unmade. It is the driving force behind all age and decay in the universe. It is entropy, chaos, oblivion. It is the force that drives everything into nothingness.

It is the Void.

It has gone by many names in many universes. Chaos. The Wyrm. The Echthroi. The Dark Side. But even in universes where its presence isn't so obvious, it is still at work. It's always at work. Always looking for some way to unmake reality.

I personify it a bit much. It is not sentient. It is a force of nature, neither good nor evil, and yet it is the source of much evil, and darkness in its purest form. It is not the shadow cast by a light, it is the darkness that would swallow all light that ever was and ever will be.

It cannot be fought directly. One can as soon destroy destruction, or kill death. Only its symptoms can, and must, be fought. Even the smallest victory can mean salvation, and even the tiniest failure can spell doom.

It wears down the universe like wind and water grinding away at rock little by little. But it does not merely work on the physical plane. It decays the mind and soul as well. It can make people forget. It can drive people insane. It can turn good people into monsters by corrupting their very spirit.

And then I realized what had happened with the Elkandu. They were to have been the greatest defenders of creation, protectors of life, guardians of the universe. But they had been corrupted before they were even born, twisted into tools of the Void, and much destruction was unwittingly wrought by their hands. A disaster of multiversal proportions had only been averted by the narrowest of margins.

What could have been... and what could still be... I had already traveled millions of years into the past. There were countless paths leading off before me, and I could see myself going off in many ways. I cannot bring myself to blame the versions of myself that I saw going back to resume a normal life and try to forget about all I had seen.

But this version of me, however, chose another path. I've chosen to fight. I've chosen to stand against the Void.

And this time, the Elkandu will be redeemed. They will be the champions of light that they were always meant to be.

It's difficult to say what the original timeline might have been like. There have been so many branches and offshoots that did not come naturally, due to excessive and careless time travel. The first thing I did when I established myself in this timeline was prevent any sort of time travel into and out of this universe. That will be necessarily to avoid any sort of interference with my plans, either from inside or outside the timeline. I didn't bother stifling "prophecy", though. Knowing what might happen and knowing what will actually happen are very different things, and there is no certainty in the universe, not even for me.

I believe I have a lot of work ahead of me.

Til'raine was already doomed when I had arrived. It was already too late to save it.

Vel'kira will not last, either. It's too unstable. All that will remain of it, in the end, will be Torn Elkandu and the Seven Planes: Sasherey, Wilderplane, Mezulbryst, Straegarx, Hasaris, Corstad, and Thalassa.

The beings wrecking destruction upon Til'raine are agents of the Void, though they do not realize it. They do not fight for honor or glory, nor for resources or territory. They had died long ago, although they did not know it yet. Now, they are but soulless machines bent only on extermination. They have even forgotten their own name.

So when Til'raine is destroyed by these machines, Vel'kira is constructed inside the Ethereal Plane in hopes that the enemy would not be able to reach them here. They are correct in that regard, but completely fail to realize that the dead machines are not the only enemy. Not the only agents of the Void. And the Ethereal Plane is even easier to corrupt and destroy than the Material Plane.

Vel'kira is long in dying, but it was dying from the moment it was made. Physical beings cannot expect to live for generation upon generation within the Ethereal Plane and remain entirely unaffected by it. Although the Vel'dari are the direct heirs of the Til'dari, the exiled El'dari remain closer to the original strain. In the end, even the elves most closely physically similar to the original Til'dari are diminished and mutated - smaller, weaker, more frail.

But the El'dari still live, and have spread across the stars. There's a time when one might even say that they thrive. But only a brief time, in the face of history. They endure many hardships, and the machines of death return again and again to destroy more and more of them, seemingly unstoppable engines of destruction.

For my part, I spend the intervening time learning and solidifying my control over this universe. If I am to be the self-appointed guide and guardian of reality, I must make myself a supreme entity.

And then Vel'kira endures its last spasm and finally starts breaking apart. While some frantically try to evacuate the plane and retreat to the Material Plane again, the most powerful wizards gather in the capital city, Til'aris, to make a last-ditch attempt to preserve what they can. They manage to anchor their city to a planet in the Material Plane to prevent it from being swept away, and tie seven other regions to it in order to maintain them. And all else is lost forever.

Til'aris. One day, it will be called Torn Elkandu. Its Nexus is the only one of what was once a network to survive the Fall of Vel'kira undamaged. Some others, such as the one in what will become Iron City, are intact but nonfunctional. But the Nexus network was only intended to teleport people from one Nexus to another. Without any other intact Nexi for it to connect to, it would be useless. So the wizards step in and seek to modify it...

I realize instinctively that they're doing something wrong, and that this is what will have led to many of the problems that the Elkandu faced. The Nexus of Til'aris will have been modified to be much more powerful than it had been before, to be sure, but at the same time, it was also corrupted. The beacon that they intend to turn this Nexus into would also attract untold numbers of undesirable elements. If anything, the Nexus of Torn Elkandu could be said to have been too powerful. Perhaps some restrictions aren't such a terrible thing.


	2. Silently Watching

**Silently Watching**

I decide to stay back and leave well enough alone. Perhaps it would be best to just keep to myself and observe for the time being. There is much that might be learned here about the nature of the universe, and there is yet much that I don't know about how things actually happened in my own timeline. It would be foolhardy to just barge in and start changing things without regard to what might happen.

Vistri, the three-eyed mutant from Til'raine, saves a handful of other mutants from the destruction of Vel'kira. Among these are some of the first humans. Their leaders are Adam, and his mate, Lilith, but there are a number more of them than that.

They all climb aboard Vistri's ship and head out from Vel'kira. No sooner have they reached the Material Plane, however, than hostile machines appear out of nowhere and assault them. Vistri barely manages to take the ship into warp speed to escape, and the vessel is by this point badly damaged and very nearly falling apart.

The ship makes a crash-landing into Earth. Aside from Vistri, Adam and Lilith are the only survivors. Adam is wounded and has a bad concussion, and he may wind up suffering from amnesia. If it weren't for Vistri's stubbornness, humanity would have died before it even really got started.

As Vistri is working on getting his new mutant colony settled in, Gaia herself shows up, and she appears to be rather cranky. She's come to him in the form of a giant, shaggy brown wolf.

"I want you off my planet," Gaia says.

Vistri sputters. His confusion is understandable, I suppose. One doesn't normally expect a spirit of that power level to simply appear for tea. I'm sure that he never encountered the spirit of Til'raine, as old, tired, and diseased as she might have been.

Nakhash merely says innocently, "This is your planet?"

"I am this planet," Gaia says. "And you are not welcome here."

Vistri says, "I have attempted to bring as little disruption to the environment as possible..."

"I didn't awaken yesterday. I'm not stupid. Your children will bring the doom of my people."

"They don't need to be your enemies, my lady," Nakhash says smoothly.

"No," Gaia says. "They will never be my friends. And if you do not leave, I will bring forth my children to defend this world by any means necessary."

Vistri says, "Please. They are young yet, and there are few of them. You cannot judge them by what they may do in the future."

"Then I shall judge them by what they do," Gaia says. "And if I do not like what I see, expect retribution." Without a further word, she vanishes, as if she had never been there.

Not long thereafter, Vistri receives another unexpected visitor. A man by the name of Nakhash, another mutant originally from Til'raine. He bears strange serpentine features of a forked tongue, long fangs, and slitted yellow eyes. He greets Vistri like an old friend, and agrees to help him with this colony.

Adam has a falling out with Lilith, and Vistri decides to create a better mate for him by growing an opposite-gender clone called Eve. Lilith finds the whole matter insulting, and storms off into the wilderness.

The colony grows as the first generation of Earth-born children are begotten. The next generation of humans comes from Adam and Eve, and they bring forth two sons named Caine and Abel, as well as several daughters.

Gaia comes to walk among them regularly, perhaps as much to let them know that she's still there and very much watching them as anything else. She usually takes the form of various animals, especially wolves, although also cats, bears, birds, and other creatures. Whatever form she takes, there's always something strange about her that makes it immediately obvious even to the most casual observer that this is no ordinary animal.

Many of the people of the colony try to gain Gaia's favor, often by offering up sacrifices to her. This leads to an incident involving Caine and Abel each making an offering to her, of vegetables and meat respectively. But Gaia, usually taking the form of carnivores and currently being a giant wolf, turns up her nose at the plant matter and devours the meat instead.

Caine is angry about the matter, and murders Abel, leading Gaia to cursing him to require blood to sustain himself. In addition, Nakhash, who favored Abel, curses him with being unable to bear the light of day.

Vistri is distraught when he sees what has happened to his friend. Unlike Nakhash, he had always favored Caine instead. "Oh, my friend, look what they have done to you... If blood is what you need to be strong, then take mine. Take all of it. Be mighty and powerful and forever spit in the face of those who would curse you!"

Should I really just stand back and watch this? I could make a difference here. They're both being impulsive and foolish, understandably being influenced by tumultous emotions.


	3. The Children of Caine

**The Children of Caine**

I appear before the two of them, and they look at my sudden appearance in startlement. "Who are you?" asks Vistri.

"My name is Aviel Tintallia," I introduce myself. "I've been watching you, and I wish to help you."

"Why?" Vistri wonders. "And why did you not appear before now?"

"Things were going well enough at first," I say. "But then there was this. I didn't want to let you do this, Vistri. You don't have to do this."

Vistri stares at me. "Why do you care? And what does it matter what happens to me?"

"Stop and think for a moment, Vistri," I tell him. "Don't let your emotions get the better of you. Certainly, this would make Caine strong, but it would also cost him his only friend. Do you really want to do this? Is it really worth the price?"

After a long moment of silence, it's Caine who answers instead. "No. It's not."

"I..." Vistri says. "You're right, Aviel. And thank you for your intervention. You've prevented me from doing something foolish. If I want him to be strong, I can teach him myself instead."

I watch the progression of events on Earth. Caine and Vistri. Caine learns quickly, and his suggestions bring about thoughts which Vistri had not considered. I had thought to prevent the rise of certain clans of vampires in the future, but I see now that that may not be necessary. This Caine is happy, despite his curses. This Caine will not readily withdraw from the world and leave his childer to their own devices. This Caine does not need to face the world alone.

While wandering the wilderness, Caine encounters Lilith. "Well, hello there, handsome," Lilith practically purrs.

"And who might you be?" Caine wonders.

Vistri shakes his head. "Do not trust this woman, my friend. She is Lilith, a temptress who was your father's first lover. She will lead you astray, if you allow her to."

Caine narrows his eyes at the woman. "What do you wish with me?"

"Oh, don't listen to your friend there," Lilith says. "He offers to teach you, but there are so many things which I could teach you as well. And we would have far more fun together, I daresay..."

"No," Caine says flatly.

"There's so much that we could do... we could rule the world together, you and I..."

"I said no," Caine repeats, giving her a hard look that makes it clear that she should not press the issue.

"But-"

"Get out of my sight."

This is different. I can see the future quietly rearranging itself even as Lilith skulks away once again. This is a greater victory against the Void than I had realized at first.

Caine and Vistri continue to wander for many years, teaching and learning, and I occasionally gave them company rather than merely watching them. They finally come to settle in the first city of mankind, currently called Ubar. It's not really much of a city, by more advanced standards, but it's impressive to see what humans have managed to build in such a short period of time.

It is here that Caine creates his first childer and spreads the blood of vampirism. But things don't transpire quite as they might otherwise have. The changes I have already wrought are growing and building, shifting the course of history.

It's not to say that the current state of affairs is all peace and happiness, but things happen drastically differently. Different vampire clans are founded, and there is no uprising of childer to slay their sires. Instead of the clans being founded by thirteen of the third generation, they are instead founded by the new seven of the second generation, although this new group is at least partially made up of those who would have become vampires before. The clans are: Venari, Telana, Korata, Astakal, Glemarn, Handene, Mevrasi.

I have to blink for a moment when I realize what has happened. Those names sound familiar to me. Is this how things were originally meant to play out, and something had caused it to shift away from that? I can't be certain. But I know those names have turned up again and again on the edges of my perceptions. What might their emergence here and now portend for the future? One thing is for certain, though. The future will not be the same as it would have been.

For now, I sit back and cast my gaze to the present and future, seeing where things might go from here. For all that I had spent three million years putting down roots here and getting used to my new position, I have found myself surprised by the differences even a small change, in the right place, might produce. I cannot hope to anticipate every possible outcome that might arise from my actions. It has only been by instinct that I have recognized the hinge points to which I might be able to nudge history in the direction I wish it to go, and even then, I have failed to notice them until they are upon me. This makes me feel somewhat inadequate as a Time Mage.

And then the Deluge appears and washes away the city of Enoch, that was once called Ubar.

The vampires survive, of course. A little water won't generally do much to a vampire.

It isn't until after the Deluge that the differing natures of the fledgling clans truly become apparently, once they have the time and numbers to emerge. Pardon the following irrelevant info dump.

The progenitor of clan Venari, Irad, develops such a fear of water due to the flood that his descendants become particularly weak against it. Their attunement to the element of fire comes afterward. The closest thing I could correspond them to is the later clan Brujah, but even then it's not nearly the same thing.

Clan Telana, founded by a previous unknown by the name of Tamerlane, is associated with darkness, shadows, souls, and time. Although I've forbidden actual temporal manipulation, they have developed usable future-sight. They remind me somewhat of Lasombra, and perhaps Giovanni. But they don't seem to be interested in necromancy itself, but in manipulation of souls instead. They will bear watching. That path is a dangerous one.

Saulot's childer, the clan Korata, dedicate themselves to being healers and protectors, defying their vampiric nature. They are not called Salubri here, but nothing else appears to be different.

Clan Astakal, the descendants of Ennoia, takes to the forests and wilderness, bringing themselves closer to the earth. They are similar in many ways to what would have been the Gangrel, but there's a tranquility and contemplativeness to them unknown to the Gangrel.

Enoch is the progenitor of Glemarn. This clan is bent toward wisdom and knowledge, seeking peaceful contemplation and learning. They are associated with the element of water. I don't see any clear connections between them and the vampire clans of the original timeline.

The Handene, the childer of a young woman named Revina, are associated with the element of air, and illusions. There are things about them that remind me of Toreador, and Ravnos, and others, but they are none of these. They have a certain carefree, childlike nature about them, and many of them are playful pranksters.

Finally, there is Zillah's clan. The Mevrasi are also oriented toward the mental disciplines, but unlike Glemarn, they focus upon charisma and control rather than simply knowledge. They might have been the Ventrue, but they are not the Ventrue. Their love of manipulation will make them major players in later days, however.


	4. The Return to the Stars

**The Return to the Stars**

All around the galaxy, species are constantly evolving, developing sentience. Some of them even make it into space, but few get very far before being obliterated by the machines of death. I have to wonder why they are so active and destructive, and how they can be stopped.

At the height of the power, the El'dari constructed a massive network of gates connecting planet to planet. In the years of their decline, many of these gates have been destroyed or buried, but a large number of them still remain. But in their aftermath, new species rise up and try to discover how they work. Some species aren't actually newly evolved beings, but mutant El'dari who have forgotten their roots, much like the humans.

And humanity progresses. Despite constant pressure from both the vampires and Gaia's various shapeshifting breeds, civilization advances. On the upside, the vampires and shapeshifters prevent any meddling alien species from interfering too much with Earth as well. At one point, a species of parasitic aliens attempts to take over at least parts of Earth, but the local supernatural beings prove too much for them to handle. The aliens decide to leave Earth well enough alone, and abandon the place again, taking a few hundred of their human followers with them.

As humanity approaches the cusp of spaceflight capability, I return to Earth and meet up with Vistri and Caine again. They've been present and attentive the entire time, watching over things, and only stepping in if things get too out of hand.

"I am quite pleased with the progress humanity has made already," Vistri says.

I nod. "The machines of destruction are still out there, though. The ones who destroyed Til'raine have not gone away. We need to make certain that humanity is prepared to deal with them, or they will meet the fate that many other species have."

"Tell me more about these machines," Caine asks.

Unlike Vistri, Caine has matured over the years. He's still human, even if he is a nigh-immortal vampire, and as such, is perfectly capable of acting on the fly when necessary. And on top of that, he's lost some of his recklessness and impulsiveness as the millennia passed. Now, he's a shrewdly attentive planner when he puts his mind to something.

I tell the two of them what information I have gathered about the machines in question. I describe their tendencies and tactics, their abilities and whatever weaknesses I have seen them to display.

"Do these machines have a name?" Caine asks.

"They've forgotten their own name," I tell him. "The El'dari call them 'Shael'Morenni'. In other universes, similar beings have been called Necrons. There are some differences between these entities and those called Necrons, however, but that's not really relevant at the moment."

"Necrons will suffice," Caine says. "Alright. We're going to need to defeat these Necrons once and for all. If we don't, they're not going to go away and stop being a problem. They're going to keep causing trouble, like they have been for the last three million years."

"Fortunately, they won't turn their attention to this planet again until humans start getting into space," I say.

"We can use the gateways if need be to get to other planets without space travel," Vistri says.

I nod in agreement. "They don't seem to have noticed the gate network yet. I don't think they could actually use it even if they had. They can't actually enter the Ethereal Plane, since they don't have souls."

Caine nods thoughtfully. "That'll give us access to more resources than we would have here on Earth. If we can build a fleet capable of standing against them... we might just have a chance."

We begin our preparations. Groups of humans begin exploring other worlds to locate resources and seek out potential allies. Some of Caine's descendants went along with them. Never trusting the vampires with anything, the shapeshifters sent some of their own along as well. This universe had a distinct difference from my original one in that the existence of the supernatural and such creatures had never been hidden from the eyes of ordinary humans.

I can see quite clearly that, even without the additional preparation and resources, Earth will still achieve total victory over the enemy, but it will be a very pyrrhic one. This appears to be how things would have happened in the original timeline. The Necrons would be utterly wiped out, but with Earth in ruins. I aim to see things turn out a little differently...

We make our preparations and set events into motion. To combat the machines of destruction, humanity begins developing the greatest war engines they could imagine, to become machines of protection.

The ruins of alien civilizations they find on other worlds convinces them quite readily that the threat is real. Planet after planet, again and again, they find the remnants of what was. More terrifyingly, that many of the scars are recent, some from within the last few decades. On a small number of planets, they find intact civilizations, for the most part, much less advanced than their own. It looks to them as though a great force of destruction is coming along and wiping out any civilization that grows advanced enough to attract its attention. And they are afraid that they will be next.

In the wake of a world war and in the face of pressures from many sides, Earth has united into a single government. And the President of United Earth wants to know all he can about this interstellar threat that is coming to light. He starts asking pointed questions to different groups, and working his way up the hierarchies, and this eventually leads to Caine himself coming into his office.

President Jackson is a bald black man who talks with his hands a lot and paces around when talking to people. He sizes up Caine thoughtfully, uncertain what to make of him. "I'm told you're someone important with the vampires. What's your name, son?"

"Caine."

"Is that a first name or a last name?" the President asks.

Caine shrugs. "That's all the name I have, Mr. President."

"Right," Jackson says. "Born before surnames came into use, I take it?"

"That's right."

"Alright, then, Caine. What can you tell me about these aliens? The ones that have left a swath of destruction across the galaxy. We haven't even seen them yet, and I damned well want to be ready for them before we do."

"They're called Necrons," Caine explains. "A race of machines. They have been the cause of extinction for countless civilizations over the last three million year or longer."

"Well, I'm not about to let humanity be the next on that list," President Jackson says, slamming a fist into his palm. "How do we stop them?"

Caine gives a small grin. "We've been thinking about that for quite some time. Let's get you on the same page with what we've figured out. We've a lot of work ahead of us."

Jackson proves such a capable leader and tenacious tactician that Zillah herself offers to embrace him into clan Mevrasi. But he shocks her by turning her offer down, saying, "Thanks, but I'm not a fucking politician. The world elected an old warrior to fight this war, and I'm damned well going to fight it, not play politics."

Irad gives a hearty laugh when he hears of this, and offers him a place in clan Venari instead. This, Jackson happily accepts.

Jackson isn't always popular, and his sharp tongue makes him some enemies. Clan Mevrasi is offended over his refusal to join them, and they're starting to set into motion a campaign to bring down his reputation and destroy any credibility he might have. But before they get very far, Caine pays a visit to Zillah and just folds his arms across his chest and gives her a firm look.

"Sire?"

"Stop this right now," Caine says. "He's a damned good warrior, and a good Venari. And let's face it, he'd have made a terrible Mevrasi. The only reason you made that offer was in hopes of increasing your clan's power, and you know it."

Zillah looks away sheepishly. "You're right, of course."

"We're going to need your help in this, too, you know," Caine says. "We're going up against the greatest threat the galaxy has ever faced. But Jackson isn't a politician. I want you to handle the political side of things and keep the masses mollified while we take care of the war. It's going to be a considerable strain on the populace, and there's a lot of resources that will need to be expended. This is all going to fall apart if we don't work together in this."

"I can keep them happy," Zillah says.

Zillah has basically been given a blank check to do whatever is necessary to keep humanity supporting Jackson and the war effort. It doesn't matter what else she might do with that power in the meantime. There are more important threats for the time being. If she steps over the line, a reckoning can be called down against Mevrasi at a later date.

United Earth government had never instituted term limits. They would have been fairly nonsensical with the number of beings around who could live very long lives. Jackson has been up for re-election several times since becoming a vampire, and each time he wins by a considerable margin.

He doesn't even bother campaigning. He just says, "I'm busy doing real work here. You kids can play at slinging dirt at each other if you really want to."

As promised, though, clan Mevrasi makes certain to put forth in the media what good work Jackson is doing, and never speaks a negative word about him. They cheerfully sling dirt at one another and claw and scrape for political power, but for now, the President is off-limits, because Caine said so.

Vistri had been astonished enough at the rate of advancement of humanity over the past fifty thousand years. Now he is positively floored by what humanity accomplishes in a mere fifty years.

Mankind has designed a mighty war machine called a Bolo. It's still in a rudimentary stage and hasn't been honed to perfection, by any means, but if this is the lines they're working along, there's great hope for them being able to face the threat ahead of them. Its destructive potential will be immense, and it will be extremely difficult to destroy. But it isn't ready yet. They've built prototypes as a test run, but this won't be enough.

"We need to see a Bolo in action," Jackson said. "We need to see how one can really hold up against these motherfucking death machines."

The gate travelers have recently encountered a civilization that's starting to branch out into space. Although warned against it, the Klingons refused to listen and have already set up bases on other planets. It's only a matter of time before the Necrons find them.

Jackson meets with one of the Klingon leaders on Earth. "I know, you're not going to take any flak from the Necrons. I respect that. My people have been working on a war machine to defend our planet against them. I'd like to station one on your planet to help defend you, in case you get attacked."

"Fine," says the Klingon. "But don't think I'm agreeing because I think we need your help. I'd just like to see how your species fares in real combat. But no wandering around our planet unsupervised! Your people can only go where we say to go, if we're not actually under attack at the time."

"Sounds perfectly acceptable to me," Jackson says.

It's obvious that the Klingons don't take the humans or their "toys" seriously in the least, however. They seem to fully expect that in any attack, the humans will be the first to fall, or be fleeing for the gate at the first opportunity. They don't think that the humans could possibly build anything that would actually be able to stand up to Klingons.

The Bolos are too large to fit through the gate, so the parts to build one are taken through to the alien world of Kronos piece by piece and assembled on the other side. The soldiers stationed there are all volunteers, who know how dangerous their mission is, but they went regardless, knowing also how important it is. Not about defending the aliens, but about the information that might be gleaned from facing the Necrons in combat for the first time.

"Alright," President Jackson says. "The Bolo is on Kronos, assembled and fully functional. Now we just need to wait for the Necrons to attack."

"That shouldn't be long," Vistri says, staring off at nothing.

"What, you can see the future? You know exactly when they'll attack? Why didn't you say so sooner?"

Vistri shakes his head. "It's not like that. Yes, I can see the future. But the future is not set in stone. I can only see what might happen, not what will happen. The further into the future things are, the less certain they are. I could only tell that the Klingons were likely to be attacked in the near future. You knew as much yourself."

"Point," Jackson says. "Just, don't hold out on me if you see something important that I need to know about, kay?"

"I would not do that," Vistri says.


	5. The War of Machines

**The War of Machines**

The stage is set. The Necrons descend upon planet Kronos, intent upon wiping this life from the face of the universe. The Klingons fight valiantly even as they're cut down in droves. They might have stood a better chance had they been given the chance to develop better technology themselves, but as it is, they're effectively fighting tanks with sticks and stones.

The Bolo is another matter entirely, however. Humanity has held back and avoided attracting too much attention to themselves, as well as pushing rapidly for development. The Glass Walker tribe of werewolves have been instrumental in this regard as well.

"Today is a good day to die!" exclaim the Klingons as they're slaughtered.

"Alright, girl, let's see what you can do," says the Bolo commander, a werewolf called Diehard.

The Bolo moves into action, blasting at the invading Necrons with its massive cannons. This, at least, is a much more even fight. Perhaps if the Bolo were not so heavily outnumbered, it might even be enough to win the fight on its own. But there are too many enemies, and for all that get annihilated, more keep coming. The Bolo is taking heavy damage.

"Come on, hold together, girl," Diehard murmurs. "We're not going to let those Wyrm-tainted hacks win this one, are we?"

Diehard quickly patches up what he can on the fly, and moves the Bolo in front of a large building. From the looks of the scanner, some Klingons appear to have taken refuge inside the building, perhaps children and noncombatants. He's not here to protect aliens, but so long as he's here, he figures he might as well try to protect even one building full of them.

The enemy keeps coming, and continues to pound on his vehicle. The werewolf can't manage to get the damage repaired fast enough. The Bolo stubbornly keeps fighting, however, until there's nothing left of it capable of shooting or even moving.

"Sorry, girl, it looks like this is it," Diehard says quietly.

Diehard yanks out the machine's data recorder and stuffs it into his bag, then clambers out of the burning hulk. Getting back to the gate and escaping with the invaluable data while under fire would be a tricky process. He thinks it might be better to just take refuge in the building he protected in hopes that they are merely destroying what they can see and aren't actually scanning for lifeforms.

There are Necrons surrounding the building, however, and firing their weapons at him. He's not sure just what hit him, but something must have, because bits of skin and flesh violently rip off his body. What the hell kind of technology is this?

Annoyed and angry, Diehard brings his gifts to bear against the machines, disrupting many of them in his immediate vicinity. "You're fighting a Glass Walker, you Wyrm-damned pieces of junk," he spits.

Diehard doesn't waste anymore time getting inside and sealing the door behind him. The building looks to be a temple, and inside there are a handful of fierce-looking women and dozens of young children. The women raise their weapons to him until they see that he's human, and relax a little.

"What's going on out there?" asks one female by the name of Zelka.

"They're still attacking," Diehard says, glad for the universal translator function in his implant. "They destroyed the Bolo. The city is in ruins."

The women look crestfallen. "This battle is not one which we can fight. We are more outmatched than we realized."

"Tell me, is there a bunker somewhere? Catacombs? Underground tunnels?"

"There are catacombs under the temple," Zelka says. "But they were sealed off years ago. I don't have the codes to open the doors."

"Leave that to me."

Zelka leads him back down a set of stairs to the large, sealed doorway. Diehard examine the control panel and quickly hacks the code to get the door open. The air inside is stale and musty, and the place is pitch black, but it looks stable enough.

The adults pull out hand-held lights and bring the children inside, even as the sounds of battle ring outside and shake the entire building. Bits of stone crumble from the ceiling. The front door is weakening.

"Everyone here?" he asks. They do a quick headcount and nod. Diehard then seals the door behind them again. "Let's hope they don't realize we're here," he says with a sigh.

"Hiding from battle is not a very Klingon thing to do," Zelka says. "But we've never faced a foe like this before."

"We tried to warn you," Diehard says, shaking his head. "No sense placing blame now."

"Perhaps we should have listened better," Zelka says, looking at him. "You are wounded."

"It's nothing. It'll regenerate." He leans back against a wall. "I don't like hiding from battle, either, but I've got to get this data recorder back to Earth or this all will have been for nothing. Without this data, we're just left to guessing that our design isn't good enough yet."

"I don't know how safe we'll be here," Zelka says. "This was never meant to be a bunker, and the way they're attacking, the whole place might collapse on top of us if we aren't lucky."

"Get the kids back inside as far as this thing goes," Diehard says. "I'll keep an eye on the door. Anything breaking in here will have to get through me first."

He doesn't think they have the food or supplies for a protracted siege, regardless, but doesn't mention it. Right now, it'll be lucky if any of them survive the day, never mind the next several weeks.

The ground shakes again, kicking up dust around him. That would be the outer door being broken. They know he's in here. Diehard swears under his breath. They're almost here. He tucks away the data recorder behind an urn, in hopes that if worse comes to worst, the folks back on Earth will be able to retrieve it later.

They're breaking down the door. Diehard shifts into crinos form to face them as they burst through. He knows plenty of tricks to mess with machines, but if they keep coming, he doesn't have much chance in the long run. He disrupts and disables them, rips them apart with his bare claws. The half-dozen Necrons are soon in pieces on the ground, leaving him panting and examining his quickly-regenerating wounds.

"Damn, those things smart," he mutters, taking the opportunity to snag a gun from one of the downed Necrons to examine it more slowly. Then he notices that they are also regenerating. "Shit."

The Necrons get up and start attacking him again. Again, he brings them down, swearing all the while. He moves past them toward the stairs, in hopes of at least drawing them away from the catacombs. They seem to be after him specifically. They might not realize there anyone else is down there. They rise up again, and playing distraction works. The Necrons follow him back up into the temple proper. Diehard has the sickening feeling that they can keep at it much longer than him, being machines, but he's damned well not going to go down easily.

Again and again he beats down the Necrons, growing ever more desperate to figure out a way to keep them down even as his strength wanes. Then, he hears a rumble from outside. Fearing the worst, he glances over toward the missing side of the building that had once held the door.

It's the Bolo. How the hell is that thing still moving? It aims its battered cannon toward the group of Necrons, and Diehard quickly tumbles out of the way as it fires one last time, vaporizing the enemies and singing a fair bit off fur off of him in the process.

"Sorry, Commander," speaks a synthesized voice, cracking and fading out.

"It's... alright. Thanks, girl," Diehard says quietly, breathing a sigh of relief and slinking back to the catacombs to wait out the assault.

The sounds of battle slowly die down outside over the course of the next several hours. They've moved on to wiping out the rest of the planet, but the area around the gate looks clear for the moment. Diehard scouts the area and finds nothing still moving in the vicinity.

"Looks like they're gone for now," he tells Zelka. "Let's make a break for the gate while we can."

Fortunately for them, there isn't anything waiting for them at the gate and they get through without further incident. Seeing several dozen Klingon children coming out of the gate causes a number of eyebrows to raise at the headquarters complex.

"What the hell happened over there?" Jackson wonders. He looks over Diehard's current haggard state and says, "Never mind. Go get cleaned up and something to eat. Debriefing in the conference room at oh-eight-hundred hours."

"Yes, sir," Diehard says.

Traditionally, the vampires and shapeshifters don't get along too well, but the werewolves have come to appreciate clan Venari as their kind of warriors. In fact, they get along fairly well with Korata and Astakal as well, for different reasons. If I can appreciate one thing about this universe, it's that there's just a little less pointless hate going around.

Diehard enters the conference room a few minutes early, and looking a bit less like hell. The burns from the Bolo's cannon still haven't regenerated, but he doesn't seem to care at the moment. He's happy enough to be in one piece and to have succeeded at his mission, such as it was.

President Jackson glances around the room. "Alright, everyone's here, except... where's Gizmo?"

A hologram of a different bald black man shimmers into existence on the far side of the room. "I'm going over the information in the data recorder. Is there anything else, or can I get back to work?"

The President chuckles softly and says, "No, that's fine. Have fun."

"Thanks." The hologram fades from view again.

That's another thing that's earned President Jackson some points. He's quite tolerant of people's quirks, so long as they get the job done.

"We've sent the kids off to the area we prepared for any potential Klingon refugees," Jackson says. "So, Diehard was it? Tell me what happened there. Your version of it."

Diehard recounts the battle on Kronos. "The Bolo performed rather well. It certainly exceeded my expectations, for one."

"Wait," Jackson says. "You say it apologized to you? I thought they only had the most rudimentary AI installed in this version."

Diehard shrugs. "I'm a Glass Walker. I've seen stranger things."

"Alright then."

"Can you give me the coordinates for all of the worlds the Necrons are striking from?" Jackson asks Vistri. "Does your mystical third eye let you do that?"

"You're asking a lot," Vistri says. "But yes. I can do that. I will need a little time to pinpoint them all, but I will have the full list for you within a few months."

Jackson chuckles and nods. "From you, I expected 'a little time' to mean a few decades. That will suffice."

All in all, while Jackson is confident that the technology will be up to speed, he thinks what will be needed now is the perfect general to command the brigade. To that end, he has a Battle School space station constructed in orbit of Earth, and starts having children hand-picked for training.

There is, of course, some question as to the morality of using children like this. But Jackson insists that they're not training them to be front-line soldiers, but generals commanding from behind the scenes.

"Damn, that's a long list," Jackson says, looking over the data Vistri has collected for him.

"I'd advise caution," Vistri says. "Many of them aren't actually awake. If you're not careful, you might just wake them all up."

"Noted," Jackson says.

"However..." Vistri adds thoughtfully. "There appear to be far more awake than I had expected, even given the current state of affairs in the universe. They are far, far more active than they should be. I wonder why..."

To combat overpopulation, a two-child limit has been instituted in most parts of the world. This is intended to be lifted once humans start colonizing other worlds, but at the moment, resources are stretched thin enough as it is.

The occasional exception is allowed, however. One such exception is the Wiggin family, who produced two brilliant children who were deemed not quite what they were looking for. Their third child, Andrew, called "Ender", is another matter. Ender's combination of brilliance and ruthlessness might just be what's needed to win this war once and for all.

It's a carefully executed long-term plan. Materials were sent through the gates to be assembled on planets as close as possible to their intended destinations, and then sent at slower-than-light speeds to the enemy-controlled planets in question, precisely timed so that they will arrive almost simultaneously. The Necron planets are mainly dead worlds, most of them with no gate, terrifying places that no living being would wish to be.

Everything has to be perfect. One slip can lead to total annihilation. I have to wonder at just what would have gone wrong in the original timeline to leave Earth in such a shambles. But this one has changed too much to be certain, and the changes will only grow greater over time. I should, perhaps, stop comparing the two of them and allow this new home of mine to grow without always holding it up against what might have been.

But there is no flaw in the plan. In one sweeping move, the Necron planets are wiped from the face of the galaxy.

And then they appear over Earth.

I think if machines could panic, the Necrons must be panicking now.

Earth is defended vigilantly by a mighty force of Bolos much more powerful than the comparatively feeble prototype they had encountered on Kronos, and more so even than the more advanced ones which blew away their tomb worlds. And there are many more of them. The humans were prepared, and aren't taking anything for chance. They spared nothing on defense.

And for that... Earth is saved.

But it's not over yet.

"I do not believe that we destroyed them all," Vistri says.

"I saw that too," Jackson says. "What the hell happened? It's like the minute they realized they didn't stand a chance, they all just vanished."

I have to speculate that this was different from what happened in the original timeline. The Necrons thought that they could win, and underestimated the Bolos, resulting in their total annihilation. But this was only possible because the Bolo army arrayed against them was barely sufficient to preserve even a remnant of Earth. In the wake of that, Earth had never had a chance to utilize the faster-than-light technology that it had deliberately avoided previously.

"So they ran away," Caine says. "But where did they go?"

Jackson shakes his head. "We've got them on the run now. Now, we hunt down the rest like the scum they are, so no one needs to be afraid of them anymore, ever again."

From here on out, the future is almost unrecognizable. Everything has been changed with the salvation of Earth.


	6. The Coming of Wizards

**The Coming of Wizards**

President Jackson had intended on retiring following the end of the Necron War. Things don't end up working out that way, however, and not only is he stuck in office, he has been declared the Emperor of Mankind as well, much to his chagrin.

"I didn't get into this business to be a damned emperor," Jackson gripes. "Next thing you know, they're gonna forget my name and put me up for godhood or something. I'm a damned warrior, not some figurehead!"

The new Emperor decides that while the Bolos are great, he wants Space Marines as well. He wants Ender to be the first Primarch of his new legions, but the poor traumatized kid instead runs off to another planet as waves of colonists start heading out. Someone really needs to convince that boy that it's not like he killed anything that was actually alive. I thought it was a bad idea to keep him in the dark about everything, but things turned out well enough, I suppose. The price is a lot lower than it otherwise could have been.

But for now, my attention turns back to the long-abandoned ruins of Til'aris. Things may have changed, but I can still sense the birth of the Changers approaching. Things don't go well in the colonization of Tau Ceti III, "Lezaria", formerly the El'dari world of Silthor.

The biggest complaint is that apparently, the Earth government had awarded contracts for colonization of Tau Ceti III to four separate groups simultaneously without informing them of the others. Each of them believed that they had exclusive rights to the planet, and when they arrive, they're quite upset to discover that they aren't alone.

One group intended to build a colony based on tribal Africa, another on feudal Japan, a third on medieval Scandinavia, and the fourth on Victorian England. It would almost be comical watching them get up in arms about having others on "their" planet if they weren't all so deadly serious about it.

Their calls back to Earth about it are met with statements only that the paperwork must have gotten mixed up, hollow apologies, and empty promises.

So they do the only thing they can do, and carefully delineate territories, and refuse to be on the same continent as one another. And since none of them wants another group to have exclusive rights to the largest land mass, the massive northern continent, they each wind up with the other continents and island chains, leaving the northern continent undeveloped for the time being.

Jackson approaches Ender and says, "Look, son. You don't need to feel bad about this. They're omnicidal machines bent on destroying all life. They've already wiped out countless civilizations. You did good."

Ender sighs. "Maybe so. But what about the next 'enemy' you encounter, or the next? Will they always be assumed to be impossible to co-exist with as well?"

"Hey, we've got some Klingons that we saved living on Earth right now," Jackson says. "And one of my top advisers is a Til'dari. They wiped out his planet three million years ago. Those Necrons have been at this for a while. And they're still out there. We need to kick them while they're down or they might dig in again and start rebuilding."

"Wait," Ender says. "We didn't kill them all?"

"Wish we had," Jackson says. "But a bunch of them just disappeared during their assault on Earth, when they realized they were no match for our Bolo army. That Til'dari I mentioned is trying to track down the remnants of them as we speak."

Ender stares off for a moment, shaken by the implications that their enemy might still be able to retaliate again.

"They've been a hell of a threat, but they're not the only threat in the universe. I've been told of others just as bad in other galaxies, and who's to say what might still advance into space now that the Necrons aren't wiping out every civilization the minute it hits the starfaring stage?"

Ender says, "I wanted to go off somewhere quiet and just live life for a bit."

"I know that feeling," Jackson says, sighing himself. "I wanted to retire after this whole Necron business was dealt with. Instead what do I get? They crown me a damned emperor." He shakes his head. "But I have my duty, and I won't shirk from that."

"You're right," Ender says tentatively. "What did you have in mind for me?"

"Right now? Take a well-earned vacation. You can get back to me in a year or two. We're still laying groundwork for what we've got planned. The Bolos are just the start of it. When the next threat arises... we'll be ready for it."

Ender does, indeed, wind up becoming the Primarch of his own legion of Space Marines. When given the choice of what to name it, Ender supplies the name, "Blood Dragons". Those other children he had worked so well with before are gathered together to make up the foundation of the legion.

On Lezaria, the four separate groups do their best to build the colonies that they had envisioned and to forget that they ever came from the stars. Things don't quite work out as well as they hoped, of course, and not just due to the fact that they're not alone on the planet.

For one thing, the colonists don't realize that Lezaria is connected to the powerful Nexus in the silent city of Til'aris, nor that it has a substantially higher than normal ambient mana level. This doesn't become obvious until some generations down the road, when the mana has started to seep into bloodlines, and inborn mage children start being born.

It's not that magic is entirely unheard of to them or anything. But generally it's rare and requires training in order to be able to do much of anything. Now, there are children reaching puberty and shortly thereafter, being able to use magic without any prior training whatsoever. And not just wild, uncontrolled magic, either, but careful, specific, intentional magic. This is utterly baffling to the colonial leaders, who have no idea what to make of it or what should be done about it.

Among the generation of mage-born children are three Changers of incredible potential, all second-cousins of one another. Harmony, Amanda, and Swamp.

I move in close and examine their auras, their souls, wondering why these three in particular are so powerful. Some things are difficult to do from a distance, especially when that distance is temporal. These three small children, only a few years apart in age, shimmer so brightly that it's a wonder that their powers even bothered to wait for puberty to fully manifest.

But then I realize, it's not that their power level is especially that remarkable. In the days before my ascension, I'd seen a number of Elkandu of similar power levels, who did not have powers that came anywhere near these three. Could it be that much of their power was simply due to spending ten thousand years honing their abilities, and learning to use the power that they were born with to the best extent possible?

I have to chuckle at myself to think that the idea of Elkandu spending so much time actually learning is such a strange idea.

I catch Vistri watching Harmony as well. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Caine isn't far behind him, either.

"You still mean to give her that key?" I ask Vistri.

Vistri nods. "She's the only one who can restore the El'dari."

"You realize she won't have any idea what to do with it, don't you?" I say.

Caine steps up and asks, "What are you talking about? Why did you want to come here, Vistri?"

Vistri explains, "When the El'dari colony on this planet was attacked by Necrons forty thousand years ago, the El'dari planted their souls inside giant trees so that they might survive the attack, one way or another. They created this key to help restore them when it was safe."

"So the Necrons aren't a threat anymore, and even a planet like this that's trying for low-tech still has a Bolo assigned to it to protect it in case of attack," Caine says. "So you want to try to restore them now?"

Vistri nods. "Exactly. But it had been expected that there would still be other El'dari alive who could do it. The key allows the transfer of a soul from a tree into a flesh-and-blood body. But there aren't any El'dari around anymore who can help with that now."

"I see," Caine says. "Normally you'd be able to create a clone or something and transfer it into that, right? But without any El'dari around anymore, the closest you'd get would be to clone yourself, I suppose. Couldn't you just give them human bodies?"

"I doubt they'd appreciate that," Vistri says dryly. "Harmony, however, will be able to transform them into exactly what they wish to look like. She can make them themselves again."

Caine chuckles softly. "Vistri, if I didn't know you better, I'd think you planned it out like this."

Vistri gives a small grin. "I knew of the birth of the Changers beforehand. But not that far beforehand."

"Either way," I put in, "you're going to need to tell her what you expect her to do, and not just stumble around for the next ten thousand years until somebody else lets them out on their own. She's powerful, not a genius."

"Heh, right, point," Vistri says, a bit sheepishly.

We step back to watch the growth of the three Changers closely without interfering too much. Their culture is a strange one. They utterly failed at creating the "tribal Africa" setting they were aiming for, and wound up with something unique and interesting entirely their own.

But much as it was clear that Adam was the most important man alive in his age, it's likewise obvious to us that these three children are the most important people alive on Lezaria at the moment.

The oldest one, Swamp, is the first to discover his powers. I shudder at the things this one might do in the future, but right now, he's just an adolescent boy learning what he can do. He's already something of a misfit, being an albino on a predominantly dark-skinned continent, but with strange magic on top of that, he's bound to be set apart.

I remember Swamp as being the most powerful being in the universe who didn't claim to be a god... and was more powerful than many of those who did. No one was ever entirely certain just what the limits of his powers might be, if he even had any. He could do incredible things that others had no idea how he accomplished, and make them look completely effortless. Looking at him now, as a child, I realize just how much of that was pure skill. He has a lot of raw power, to be sure, power with the potential to accomplish anything he puts his mind to, but without that skill, it's undirected.

I call him a Changer, but he is, in fact, a true Catalyst. His power is to change magic itself. I have never seen anyone else who can do what he does like he does it, and here he is, inborn with this talent like it's a part of him.

At the moment, however, he's just getting a feel for it. He can feel the flow of magic in the world around him, but he isn't quite sure yet just what he's feeling or what it means. He can't even properly read auras or analyze enchantments yet. It must be incredibly confusing for him, and there's no one there to teach him. There's no one who would be able to teach him, anyway. When it comes down to it, the only way to learn you can fly is to flap your wings.

Swamp stumbles through his learning, but he's smart and determined. Although he's actually capable of bending magic to do whatever he wants, he finds it easiest at first to enchant inanimate objects with the effects he wants to achieve than to try to do them himself. He thinks himself a mere Enchanter, in these early years. He has no idea just how far he will truly go.

Then Harmony and Amanda hit their stride as their power is discovered, and two rival cities get their hands on them. The War of Transformation takes off with ogres and giants battling wolfmen and minotaurs.

But it doesn't take long for the young Changers to grow tired of being used as pawns, and flee into the wilderness. After leaving a series of world-shaking events in their wake, they all three wind up in Til'aris.

"I was starting to wonder when you were going to show up," I comment, pulling a blackened marshmallow off the stick and popping it into my mouth.

Vistri, warming his hands over the campfire, glances over toward the Changers with his three blue eyes. Caine sets aside the mandolin he was strumming absently at.

Amanda blinks slowly at us. Harmony stares at us with eight eyes. Swamp just smirks.

"You were waiting for us?" Harmony says. She's still in her phase of experimenting with her magic, and her appearance is a bizarre ever-shifting combination of a dozen distinct species.

"Who are you?" Amanda wonders. "What is this place?"

"Heh. Welcome to Til'aris," I tell them. "What's left of it, anyway. No one has come here in a long time. Not for long, anyway."

"Why is that? Is it dangerous here?" Amanda asks.

I shake my head. "No, not exactly. It was abandoned so long ago that I think most of the descendants of those who once might have come here have long since forgotten about it."

"There is a lot of power here," Swamp says thoughtfully, looking around at the faintly glowing runes making patterns across the paving stones. "It is strange to hear that it is unclaimed."

I chuckle to myself. Leave it to a Catalyst to recognize what millennia of planar would-be wizards have forgotten. But instead, he was drawn here. He could not fail to sense it, and it drew him in like a brightly burning flame.

"But why are you here, if not to command this place?" Swamp asks. "I sense no small amount of power flowing through the three of you as well. Much as you try to mask it."

His powers have progressed faster than I had anticipated if he can sense that. But I suppose it shouldn't surprise me. His power is practically magic incarnate. Most of the magical theories Elkandu society were based upon, had been created by him to begin with.

"Hold on a moment," Amanda says. "You seem to know exactly who we are. Might you do us the courtesy of extending introductions to us as well?"

"Certainly," I say. "I am Aviel Tintallia. Not that that tells you much of anything, really."

"Vistri Lenoreth Antaves," says the three-eyed Til'dari.

"Caine. Just Caine," says the vampire with a smirk.

Swamp says, "They are more than they seem."

"No shit?" says Harmony. "Even I can tell that."

I grin in amusement. "I suppose that depends. What do we seem to be?"

"Point," Harmony says.

"What I want to know is," Swamp says, "are you friend or foe?"

"Always dividing the world into one thing and another," I say. "Would you believe that we could be neither? I am not here to help you, and you do not require it regardless. But neither have I any intention of hindering you, either."

"Then why are you here waiting for us?"

"To speak with you," I reply. "There are some important things which you must know."

Vistri says, "You encountered some very strange trees on the northern continent, did you not?"

Swamp nods. "My teppers told me some very interesting things about them. What of them?"

Vistri pulls out a rune-covered wooden key and hands it to him. "This will let you transfer their souls out of the trees. Harmony will be able to restore them to their original forms."

"Who are they?" asks Harmony.

"They are El'dari," Vistri explains. "The original inhabitants of Lezaria."

"Your people?" she asks.

Vistri shakes his head. "Not exactly. I am Til'dari, and a mutant one at that. The term El'dari specifically refers to those of my species who were born amongst the stars."

Swamp examines the key thoughtfully, carefully analyzing the magic present within it as best as he can. "Interesting," he murmurs.

Harmony says, "How exactly am I supposed to- no, wait, never mind, of course I can do that."

"I have faith in you," I say lightly. "You can tell them that the Shael'Morenni are no longer a threat to them."

"Before we go rushing off to do this for you," Swamp says, "tell me, what do we get out of it?" Of course he means, 'What do I get out of it?'

"You get Til'aris and everything within it," I tell him. "See that building over there? The El'dari left a number of basic educational books in there. Since you had knowledge of their language transferred into your mind, you will be able to read them. Don't rely on them too much, though - they're just scratching the surface of what might be possible. The rest you'll have to discover for yourself."

Swamp thinks this over for a moment, and finally says, "That is acceptable."

"Oh, one more thing," I say. "A word of advice, Harmony. If the El'dari see you looking like a tentacle demon, they will probably react badly."

Amanda suggests, "Perhaps we should all look like El'dari instead."

Harmony grumbles under her breath for a moment, then closes all of her eyes. Her form melts and shifts, and where the strange monster had been standing before, now there stands a tall, black-haired El'dari female. "Fine. How's this?"

Vistri looks over her, and says, "It will suffice."

She turns to Amanda and performs the same transformation, turning her into a blonde El'dari woman. Then she turns to Swamp, who holds up his hand.

"You are not touching me with that magic of yours."

"Oh, come on, it won't hurt," Harmony says. "And they're going to freak when they see that ugly mug of yours."

"You are not touching me with that magic."

"What, don't you trust me?"

Swamp smirks. "You don't want me to answer that."

Amanda puts in, "Cousin, would it not be best if we were to present ourselves to these El'dari in a manner which will not alarm them? Besides which, are you not perfectly capable of delivering retribution against Harmony should she transform you in a way that displeases you?"

Swamp mutters softly. "Fine. If I must. But I will be watching you closely, little cousin."

Swamp carefully, deliberately, lowers his magic resistance, still grumbling about it. Harmony reaches out with her magic to change his form, clearly with more difficulty than she had with herself or Amanda. "Geez, Swamp, getting magic through to you is like wading through... well, a swamp."

"Very funny," Swamp says dryly, making a conscious effort to suppress his magic resistance even further. "Try it now."

This time Harmony manages to get it through, and Swamp's form grows and shifts. He makes for a surprisingly attractive blond El'dari male. "There. Done. That wasn't so bad, was it?" Harmony says.

Swamp's magic resistance snaps back into place as if he can't get it up again fast enough. "You have done adequately. Now, never do that again."

"What, you want to stay like that?" Harmony says, raising an eyebrow.

"It is by far preferable to allowing you to use your magic on me again," Swamp says in disgust.

"Well, if we're set, then, let's go see about getting some pointy-ears out of some trees," Harmony says.

"Yes. Let's."

Swamp nods toward us politely, then turns to head off to the northern continent again.

"Impressive magic resistance," Caine comments. "He's only how old, and already that powerful?"

"That boy is one of a kind," I say. "This is probably a fortunate thing, for the sake of the universe."

"I worry about his general goodwill, or lack thereof," Vistri says.

I shake my head. "One may wonder about the way he goes about things... but he is no agent of destruction. I can't tell you what his motives are, but the things he does seem to cause more benefit than harm in the long run."

"I'll take your word on that, Aviel."

On the northern continent of a world that is no longer so familiar to them, the El'dari are awakening. Rather than giving them his birth name, Swamp introduces himself to them by the name of 'Sardill'. Songlord, in the local dialect. I really can't blame him, and I have to wonder at any parents who would name their child 'Swamp' in the first place.

From the limbs of the trees overlooking the El'dari, the Zephyli gaze with wonder upon the spectacle. The indigenous winged mammals of Lezaria are very primitive at this time, hardly what one might even call a civilization. Would humans consider beavers to be sentient? The Zephyli don't understand what they're seeing. The trees are sacred to them, and this is like seeing their gods come to walk upon the earth. They don't know what to make of this, and aren't certain if they dare approach. But eventually they decide to do so, and properly show deference to their gods.

Zephyli fly in from all around to land on the ground near the El'dari, and offer up gifts of forest fruits and wood carvings. The El'dari are... confused, to say the least. They remember these indigenous beings, but it had been forty thousand years ago, and the Zephyli were considered nothing more than animals then.

But the El'dari had dreamed often of the Zephyli while sleeping within the giant trees, and here they are, speaking a crude variant of their own tongue. For all their primitiveness, the Zephyli are a naturally psychic species, and quite capable of learning far more quickly than they had been given credit for.

Still, it's awkward, but the El'dari are loath to just turn these primitive creatures away. So the city of Eldamar is built to house both El'dari and Zephyli.

And Sardill returns to Til'aris to study the books left there. The school of Til'aris had once been a place of instruction for young inborn mages first learning how to control their powers and get them to do what they wanted. The books contain many examples and suggestions for how to piece together magical weaves.

Harmony goes off to explore the Seven Planes and see what strange things she might discover there. Or create. The place is already populated by a variety of mutants and degenerate El'dari, but they've had more chance to travel between the different planes at will. Even so, there's still a lot of genetic instability, and Harmony is quick to offer her services to correct many of the lingering problems from Til'raine and Vel'kira and make some improvements along the way.

Amanda, on the other hand, remains in Eldamar for the time being, helping the El'dari rebuild and learning about them. She also begins to discover more about herself and her own powers as well. She had thought that her power is more limited than Harmony's, allowing her to change only size and not form, but she soon discovers that her true power is far more versatile than that. Amanda can change the mass of an object at will, in any way she wants. She can, effectively, violate the laws of physics by directly creating and destroying matter, pulling or shunting the excess energy straight to and from the Ethereal Plane.

A few El'dari and even a couple Zephyli join Sardill in Til'aris. Some of those Harmony has met across the Planes travel there as well. They come to learn, and in doing so, the Elkandu are reborn.


	7. The Rise of Chaos

**The Rise of Chaos**

Humanity spreads across the stars, founding colony after colony. They build a great empire that reaches across the galaxy. In the blink of an eye in the face of history, mankind has gone from being yet another primitive pre-starflight species, to the greatest force in the galaxy.

For a time, it seems like nothing can threaten them. A number of alien worlds are brought under the sway of the new human empire, some of them by force. The Emperor isn't about to allow anyone else to threaten humanity, and is starting to be pre-emptive in his defensive actions. He's not interested in pointless xenocide, however, so if an alien species seems like it could co-exist with humanity, he gives it a chance to do so.

Perhaps it's a calculated move on his part. Any group feels more kinship with one another when there are those significantly different from them around. The differences between subgroups of humanity seem much more trivial when there are aliens around that one can direct their hate against instead.

No longer does humanity rely upon slower-than-light spaceships to get from planet to planet. Faster-than-light starships carry large quantities of people and goods all over the galaxy. The gates are still in use, but are carefully controlled and reserved for emergencies and official imperial business. Emperor Jackson saves himself a lot of time spent aboard ships by gating everywhere that he can.

I can't help but get the feeling, however, that at this rate, humanity's greatest enemies will be amongst themselves. Looking at the future, I see that extragalactic threats may arrive at any time, but something is building within the empire itself that may break it before they even get here.

"Vistri," I say. "Have you seen what I'm seeing?"

"I am not certain," Vistri replies. "What, in particular, are you seeing?"

"There is a threat to the Empire rising from within," I say. "I can't be certain just what it is or what might be the cause of it, however."

Vistri nods. "I see it. What do you think should be done?"

"I don't know," I admit. "I don't know if this is a challenge that humanity will need to face on its own and grow stronger from, or if it's a threat that will utterly destroy or corrupt all that we have built here."

"Either way," Vistri says, "it will still be some time before it emerges. We have time to prepare if need be, for the moment."

The truth doesn't become clear to me until the Emperor's precious new Primarchs, still growing in their tanks, vanish from the face of the Earth. The technology had finally been perfected and they'd been made into superhuman beings, but the only one left on Earth is Ender, who predated the design plans.

"What the hell just happened here?" snarls Emperor Jackson, stalking angrily about the remote mountain facility. "Who did this? Was it aliens? Terrorists? Psykers?"

Vistri steps in beside him and says, "I think I know who did it."

"Who?" the Emperor says, spinning around to face the Til'dari.

Vistri blinks three eyes for a moment, realizing only now that Emperor Jackson is just as tall as he is, and faces him at eye level. Jackson had been an ordinary human once. What had he done to himself?

"I believe it was the Chaos Gods," Vistri says, shaking off his momentary distraction. Now isn't the time to wonder.

"The what?"

"There are three extremely powerful beings out in the Ethereal," Vistri says. "You might have heard mention of the three heads of the Wyrm from the Garou under your command? These are that which I am referring to."

"Damnit," Jackson hisses, punching his own fist, then turning to stand staring out a window, hands on the windowsill. The sunlight streaming down from outside does not burn him. His Venari powers have advanced to the point where even most fire no longer affects him. "So, what, were they kidnapped by Black Spiral Dancers or something, then?"

"I cannot say," Vistri says, shaking his head.

"Well, whatever happened, find them for me. You can find anything, can't you?"

"I am not so certain anymore," Vistri admits. "There are forces at work in the Ethereal that are beyond me. And it is far easier to find a planet than an individual being. By the time I locate them, it may already be too late."

"Start looking anyway," the Emperor says. "I'll put out a missing persons bulletin across the Empire, for whatever good it might do. Too damned many planets out there that didn't hold to a reasonable tech level, either deliberately or through incompetence."

I can see clearly now ahead of me the dark path that this universe has ahead of it. In averting one disaster, I have brought about another. The forces of the Void are ever vigilant for any opportunity to attempt to destroy that which people attempt to create. Everything is different, and yet the outcome is always the same. Catastrophe.

In despair and panic, I look to the future, to try to see some ray of hope, some shining beacon of light in the darkness that might reveal a way out of the coming chaos. Instead, I feel the presence of Tzeentch before me, as I had so clearly before.

"You think yourself the true lord of this universe?" Tzeentch whispers in my mind. "All has happened according to my plan..."

Dread fills me, at wondering if all my actions have played so neatly into the hands of this dark entity. "No," I say fiercely. "I will not go down this path again. The darkness holds no sway over me anymore."

A chuckling sound echoes in my head. "Do as you will, my daughter. You can see the truth perfectly well for yourself."

I take a deep breath and quietly center myself. "You know, no matter what happened, you'd still claim that it was exactly as you had planned. You just like to screw with people's heads, and I'm not falling for it. I know you too well."

"I made certain that my three lovely avatars would be born regardless of the changes you have wrought. I am quite pleased with their progress so far. What? Did you think their power was a mere coincidence? There is no such thing."

I think back to what I had seen, the natural and thorough mutative ability of Harmony, the sheer level of raw magical power in Sardill... I think on their tendencies that they had shown throughout ten thousand years of history in my original timeline. How Harmony was the cause for most of the different beings found on Lezaria and the Seven Planes. How Sardill kept Lezaria in a constant state of war by putting himself up as his own enemy, in order to force them to progress along the lines he desired.

"You see now, don't you, hmm?"

I curl up in a ball, putting my arms over my face and shaking my head as if to try to get the thoughts out of my mind. "Why must you do this to me? And why did you wait until now to reveal yourself to me like this?"

Another chuckle. "I have been working through you all along. Our goals have been the same."

"No," I murmur. "No, no, no, no, no. Get out of my head. I've heard enough out of you."

"Only you can make me leave," Tzeentch tells me quietly. "But you aren't going to, are you? Though it might kill you, you will strain to listen to every whisper that I might offer you, for it would drive you mad to wonder what I am saying that you cannot hear."

I clench my eyes shut, clench my fists, clench my teeth. "Right. You're good at driving people crazy." I sigh. "And you didn't bother speaking to me before because you figured I'd just crumble easily whenever you wanted, right?"

Damn it all, why does he have to be so right? I can't deny anything. What am I doing here?

I take a deep breath. I try to calm myself. To quiet my mind. To meditate. To think on what I am doing and why.

But there's no quiet. There are whispers in my head, still echoing softly. I can't quite make them out. I can't quite understand them. I find myself straining to hear, searching for meaning.

No. I shake my head. Down that path lies madness.

But I think to myself in growing dread, Is it already too late for me? I think that I already belong to him, and that I always did. Why fight it?

Calm. Be calm. Don't panic. Why am I here? What am I doing here? I came here to fight the forces of the Void. To fight that which would bring about the end of all creation. Obviously, Tzeentch would not want that, either. Tzeentch wants change, not annihilation of all life. Right?

I already didn't know what to do, and now I find myself only even more at a loss. All my plans have turned to dust.

And it's difficult to stay sane with chaotic whispers in your head.

Several hours later, after failing to still my mind or silence the voices, I think to seek out Vistri. I'm nervous about telling anyone just what's going on in my head, though. They will judge me, I fear. They will think me to be a servant of Chaos. And Chaos was already destroying Til'raine by warping its people into mutants long before the Necrons showed up and dealt the final blow. No matter what happens, this cannot turn out well.

Regardless, this is not a conflict that I can ask for anyone else to resolve for me. My only enemy here is inside my own head. And if I don't have the will to resist this, then I should just give in and embrace Chaos willfully.


	8. Loyalty and Trust

**Loyalty and Trust**

I'm not going to give Tzeentch that satisfaction. Not now. I make the voices be silent and push them away.

"Aviel?" Vistri's voice comes as though from a very long way away, although he's right next to me and I hadn't even noticed. Caine is right behind him, looking concerned.

"Wh- What? When did you get here?" I stammer. I blink for a moment and look around. I'm in a room in Til'aris, where I had been all along. I'd come here to hope for someplace quiet and peaceful to meditate upon what course of action I might wish to take in the future.

Perhaps there's more danger to this place than I had given proper credit for. The place is highly attuned with the magical flow of the universe. Tzeentch was able to reach me here so easily...

"Aviel, are you alright?" Vistri wonders. "You seem distracted."

"I- I'm fine," I insist.

"Really?"

"Yes. Really."

Caine steps up to me and takes my chin in his hand, and says, "Look at me."

I look into his eyes tentatively. I know his kind can do things to a person by making eye contact, and he's the greatest of his kind, but I don't really care at the moment. For one thing, unlike Tzeentch, I trust Caine completely. Even as I feel his eyes practically burrowing into my very soul.

"I fear we've already lost Jackson," Caine says quietly. "We don't need to lose you, too."

Vistri says, "Is she...?"

"Very nearly," Caine replies.

"Jackson?" I repeat dumbly. Was something going on with the Emperor?

"Shh," Caine whispers. "Be still for a moment."

My mind blurs. I feel like I'm dreaming. Then I realize Saulot is there too. I'm not sure when he got here. What's going on here? What are they doing? But I stay calm and don't panic. They're friends. They would not seek to bring me harm.

"Good," Saulot says. "You didn't stop fighting. If you'd given in, even for a moment, we'd never be able to get you back."

"What's going on?" I wonder.

"Looks like someone's been trying to get to you, too," Saulot says. "You still with us?"

"Yeah," I reply with a sigh. "I'm just glad you guys got here when you did. Thanks. So is there a problem with Jackson?"

Caine looks at me gravely. "These Chaos Gods are more insidious than we'd given them credit for. We've already lost much of clan Venari to Khorne. Jackson very likely as well. We're not sure yet. I'm afraid Glemarn may have fallen to Tzeentch already, as well, and I don't have much hope for Mevrasi or Telana either."

"Shit," I mutter. "How did this happen?" I've not been paying enough attention to what's been happening on Earth lately, I fear, if this sort of thing has managed to take hold so quickly.

"Who knows how long this has been building?" Caine says. "I bet they realized we were a real threat to whatever they have planned for the universe the minute we struck the death blow to the Necrons, but they've probably been at work on Earth since the Garden."

"We're just lucky we caught this early," Vistri says. "They haven't played out their hand yet. They definitely have something in mind for the Space Marines that has yet to come to light."

"What's the status on the shapeshifters?" I ask.

"We've sent out word to contact their leaders," Caine replies. "I don't know if any of them have been corrupted yet. Well, besides the Black Spiral Dancers, but they've always been crazy, and I don't think they're going to get any crazier."

Vistri says, "We're thinking of using Til'aris as a central meeting and planning area, as it would be easier to secure and we're not certain that it's safe on Earth."

"I'm not sure that it's safe here, either," I comment, thinking on how easily Tzeentch wormed his way into my skull. Although I have to admit that part of that may have been because of my prior contact with him.

Saulot says, "I'm having some of my clan help raise wards around the city. That should help a bit, at least."

The Korata vampires are quite good at what they do, and I can at least be grateful that there's one clan that isn't likely to fall to the influence of the dark powers. I feel a little more comfortable as I see the wards going up around the city, but I can't help but shake the uneasy feeling that it won't really help that much if anyone really cares to mess with Til'aris.

I felt so confident and powerful when I first decided to stay in this timeline and create a better future. So hopeful and strong. What happened? I no longer feel like I'm in control anymore. I'm nervous, afraid, even paranoid. Maybe this was what Tzeentch was really trying to do. To make me doubt myself.

People start trickling in, and I scan them absently, trying to identify them. I haven't actually met many of them before. Shapeshifters of various breeds, an old vampire from clan Astakal, a few mages... some of them, it's a wonder they're even willing to be in the same room as one another without trying to rip anyone's face off. Someone had even tried to contact the Rokea, apparently, but it doesn't look like any of the weresharks actually decided to show up.

"Gilgamesh? Where's Ennoia?" Caine asks the Astakal. "I thought she was coming."

Gilgamesh shrugs. "Nobody's quite sure anymore. She up and disappeared a while ago and hasn't been back. We're not even sure that she's still on Earth. Might've gone off to the wilderness on some other world."

"Let's check you out real quick here," Caine says, intently examining the man for a minute. "Alright, you're clean."

"What's this about, anyway?" Gilgamesh asks. "I'm clean of what? Some sort of blood disease going around or something?"

"Not exactly," Caine says. "Let's head inside. This conference should explain everything."

Everyone gathers around the table in the impromptu conference room, some of them looking less happy to be present than others. Vistri, as a neutral party, neither vampire nor shapeshifter, stands and begins to explain the situation.

"I knew we couldn't trust the damned leeches," snarls one of the werewolves, one whom I can only assume came just hoping for the opportunity to tear someone's face off. "I say they're all Wyrm-tainted anyway. Let's just kill them all and be done with it already, like we should have done in the first place."

"Calm down," says another shapeshifter across the table. "We're going to need to work together here if we are to accomplish anything."

They all argue for a bit longer, and in the end accomplish nothing and wind up with several of them storming out again, before Vistri even has a chance to finish saying what he has to say. He casts his three eyes over those remaining at the table when the dust settles and sighs.

"I had hoped things would go better," he says.

Caine rubs his head. "It's been difficult enough to get some of them to work together before this bombshell was dropped."

"Don't worry," says one of the werewolves. "I'll deal with them." This one is a Silver Fang by the name of Fireheart. "Some of us aren't foolish enough to think that even the Korata are corrupted."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Saulot says.

The meeting adjourns for the moment, having resolved nothing and perhaps having caused more problems than it addressed. Once all the shapeshifters are gone and I'm left alone with Vistri and Caine, I say, "There are time when I think maybe it would have been better if I had prevented vampires from ever existing in the first place."

"And then what?" Caine says. "Would things have been better, then?"

I shake my head. "Somehow, I don't really think so. I fear that I might have just replaced one problem with another."

"You can't predict everything, Aviel," Vistri says quietly. "You can't foresee every outcome. And you can't blame yourself for failing to prevent every bad thing that might ever happen."

I smirk faintly. "You're right, of course. It just sometimes seems like all my efforts only wind up making things worse. Is the road to hell really paved with good intentions? Or is that merely an excuse to never try to do anything good?"

Caine replies, "I think if you sincerely intend well, you cannot be held accountable for any ill that may inadvertently come of it."

"I can't see the future anymore," I say. "All I see if I try now, is the ever-shifting faces of Tzeentch."

"Well, then, you'll just have to do it the old-fashioned way," Caine says. "The way everyone else does it."

"Is it just me, or does it seem like the more powerful one gets, the less power one actually winds up using?" I chuckle softly.

"Seems that way sometimes, yeah," Caine agrees.

I rub my temples. "How are we going to find out if Jackson has been corrupted or not? And what are we going to do if he is?"

"By any means necessary," Caine says darkly. "I don't want to have to kill my grandchilde, but if there's no other option..."

"There's always options," I say. "They just aren't always good ones. But if someone chooses to follow the paths of darkness of their own free will, they should face the consequences for that." I make a face. "I would expect you to do no less for me if I were to fall."

"There's always a chance of redemption," says Saulot from the doorway. "Just sometimes that redemption equals death."

"Saulot," I say. "Where'd you go?"

"I was checking out Sardill. I don't trust him."

"Good man," I say, grinning. "He's a dangerous one. And will be even more so once he has time to learn how to fully utilize his powers. He'd be utterly terrifying with ten thousand years of practice under his belt."

"I honestly have no idea if he might be corrupted or not," Saulot says.

"And I honestly have no idea if he's some sort of incarnation of magic or avatar of Tzeentch or what," I say. "Nor if killing him now would cause more problems than it might solve. I don't tend to agree with the idea of killing people before they've done anything wrong, but he's already caused a bloody civil war on Lezaria's southern continent. And that's the sort of thing he was known for in my timeline. Causing conflict simply for its own sake. He'd oppose whatever organization there was just to oppose it, and if there wasn't, he'd build up false personas of himself and oppose those instead."

"What was he trying to achieve with this?" Caine asks.

I shake my head and reply, "I have no idea what, if anything, he was even trying to achieve. But one would think that if he were trying to take over Lezaria, he could have done so in ten thousand years. He wasn't that bad at it. He just wasn't trying to, I don't think. He had people rallying around him on both sides. He could have united Lezaria anytime he wanted. He'd also curse people for no apparent reason..."

"It sounds like you're trying to convince yourself of the right of killing him, to me," Saulot points out.

"You said he was important, before," Vistri says. "That the universe needs him."

"I don't know," I say. "I can't be sure of anything anymore. The thing is, I don't think he's actually a bad person, he's just a bit difficult to understand at times."

"The decision is yours," Saulot says. "You have to decide one way or another. I won't judge you either way. Both can be justified. But you know the most about the situation, so I will defer to your decision."

I rub my temples. "I won't kill him. Let him live, for now. I would much rather have him on my side than anything else, really."

"And what's the best way to do that?" Caine asks.

I snicker. "So far as I can tell? Be the underdog. Closest thing I can figure. I don't know."

"Well, you can talk to him, then," Saulot says. "I don't think he likes me." He smirks.

I nod, also smirking. "I'll do that."

I go off to have a talk with Sardill, while they head back to Earth to see about what they're going to have to do with Jackson. I find him inside the school, poring over one of the books that had been left there.

"Aviel," he says by way of greeting without looking up. "Something you need?"

"Sorry to interrupt," I say. "I came to speak with you about the possibility of an alliance."

Sardill raises an eyebrow and turns away from the book to look at me carefully. "Something has changed. What is it?"

"That's... a bit hard to explain," I reply. I'm not sure how I feel about telling him what Tzeentch said about him. "In a short period of time, things have taken an abrupt turn for the worst and we find ourselves short on allies we can really trust."

"And you trust me?" he says with a crooked smile.

"To be perfectly honest with you? I have no idea what you might or might not do at any given moment."

"Ah," Sardill says. "So you're just that desperate."

"Well, that, and that I'd really rather have you as friend than foe," I admit.

"Very well. What do you require of me?"

"You're going to join us?" I say.

"I just did," Sardill says simply. "Do you wish me to swear some meaningless oath of loyalty in your general direction as well?"

"Meaningless?"

"If one is honest, one will not betray regardless," Sardill replies. "And if one is dishonest, mere words will not prevent one from betraying."

I breathe a sigh of relief. "No, I have no need of that sort of reassurance. Your magical ability is a welcome addition to the team, and in return, we will also help you in any way we can."

Sardill gives a short nod. "Is there anything you need at this moment, or can I return to studying?"

"For the moment? I'd breathe easier if I knew the wards the Korata put upon Til'aris are going to hold and will actually keep out the undesirable elements that they're supposed to."

Sardill nods again. "Ensuring that one's base is secure is a good place to start. I will take a look at them."

He heads out of the building and stares up at the swirling purple dome that passes for the sky in Til'aris. There's no true sun here, only a faint blue light in the sky casting eerie shadows upon the rune-etched city.

"These Korata are skilled at their work," Sardill says. "I can find no flaw in their wards."

I relax a bit at his words. "Thanks for checking it out. I can rest easier now."

He examines me thoughtfully for a moment. "Do you not trust them, or are you merely paranoid?"

I look to the ground and reply, "I trust them."

Sardill gazes at me for a few moments longer, then gestures to me to follow as he returns inside the school building. We sit down at a table across from one another. I'm trying not to let my general unease show, but I doubt I'm succeeding at all.

"You're afraid," Sardill says quietly. "What has shaken you so badly?"

"It's... difficult to explain," I evade the question.

Sardill leans back in his chair and looks at me intently. "When I first saw you, I thought you might be some sort of god. But now I see you're not any different from me, even if you are older."

"No, there is one big difference between us," I reply. "You're an inborn mage. I was born without any magic whatsoever. I had to learn everything the hard way. Already you can do things without even hardly thinking about them that took me years to master. Soon enough, you'll surpass anything I might ever imagine."

"Does that fact upset you that badly?" Sardill says.

I shake my head. "No, not really. I might as well be upset at a bird for having wings when I need to make do with a flying machine."

"This is not what has you shaken, though," Sardill points out.

"Yeah," I say, sighing. "I'm just... well, to be honest, I'm not sure how much I can trust you, either."

Sardill taps his fingers together. "You either trust me or you don't. But if you did not trust me, you would not have permitted me to remain in your city, asked me to be your ally, or very likely even to live. I'm powerful; if you thought I might be an enemy, it would be incredibly risky to leave me alive if you had an opportunity to kill me."

I start to realize just why Sardill is so feared and dangerous. He's still so young and inexperienced, and yet he keeps saying things that come off sounding patently obvious that I hadn't really thought about myself. And also that I start to think that he's not nearly as flighty and unpredictable as I had previously believed. He's scheming and intelligent, but not random. Everything he does is for a reason, even if that reason is inscrutable to someone who doesn't know what he's thinking. It also makes me wonder again at Tzeentch's words.

"I'll trust you," I say finally.

"Then tell me everything."

I take a deep breath. It's easier to declare one's trust than to actually practice it. "For starters, let me say that I am from a different future. A timeline in which different things happened. I came back in time to attempt to guide the course of events down a better course."

"Time travel?" Sardill says, raising an eyebrow. "A dangerous game you play. And I take it things have not been going according to plan."

"You could say that," I reply. "Are you familiar with the three Chaos Gods? Khorne, Nurgle, and Tzeentch? Or perhaps you've heard of the Wyrm?"

Sardill shakes his head. "I have not heard of any of these entities."

"The shapeshifters speak of these gods as the three heads of the Wyrm: Beast-of-War, Eater-of-Souls, and the Defiler. But they are one and the same." I go into a brief description of the Chaos Gods. "Before I traveled back in time, I was a follower of Tzeentch, the one whom the shapeshifters call the Defiler. But I went back in time so far that he no longer existed as such."

"You speak of them in such a negative light as if they are enemies of yours," Sardill says. "Does this Tzeentch you worship not get along well with his fellows?"

"I... but, I don't exactly still worship Tzeentch," I reply haltingly. "I thought I had left that behind, and I didn't sense his presence growing in my mind even after the period when he would have come into existence again."

"So these Chaos Gods speak in the minds of their followers?" Sardill asks.

"Sometimes," I say. "Of course, it's not always necessarily clear whether the voices one might hear at any given moment are actually deities, or lesser demons, or merely the madness of one's own mind."

"You seem fairly certain you spoke to Tzeentch in your mind, however, correct?"

I nod. "And recently, I heard him again... that's what has me so shaken."

"I see," Sardill says. "I can understand how that would be disturbing, after so long. Tell me, then. What did Tzeentch say to you?"

I sigh. "The usual mindfuck crap, honestly. About how everything is according to his plan. He also mentioned you."

"Me?" Sardill says, raising an eyebrow.

"He claimed that you - and your cousins - are his avatars."

Sardill raises the other eyebrow, eyes widening in comprehension. "Now I understand your hesitation to speak with me about this. The question is, however, do you believe him?"

"I'm not sure what to believe anymore, to tell you the truth," I say. "I think it would make some sense if the three of you had some sort of connection to him, but it's impossible to ever tell just what he's really intending about anything."

Sardill gives a nod. "I am not aware of any connection between myself nor my cousins and this god of yours. I will not discount the possibility of there being any. I do not know if my power nor theirs is truly natural or not. But I do know that I have free will, and I will do as I choose. And right now, I have chosen to ally myself with you."

"You didn't even know if I'm working for Chaos or against them," I point out.

"Does it matter?" Sardill says. "Principles are the primary cause of betrayal."

"What?"

"If a person chooses to follow another, but only to a certain point, are they truly loyal? Their loyalty is merely conditional. And if one is willing to betray for any reason, it merely becomes a question of what point their loyalty will break. Just haggling over the price, so to speak."

I stare at him for a long moment. "Sardill, you are a horrible person, you know that?"

He smirks. "Am I? What about you? Did you intend to betray Tzeentch, or did you believe that he had merely let you go?"

"I- I-" I stammer, then sigh. "No... I didn't."

"But you resist him now. Why?"

I rub my head. "I don't think this is helping."

"Do you expect to succeed at whatever you try to do when you do not know why you are doing it?"

"I ask you this. Can a person not be loyal to be a principle rather than another person? Would violating that principle not be a betrayal, then?"

Sardill thinks about this for a few moments, and then nods. "Your point is acknowledged. It is more difficult to hold to such a principle, however. That's why they are best left to the leaders themselves."

"I am trying to prevent the destruction of the universe," I say. "There are forces at work that would unravel all of existence, wear it down, and destroy it bit by bit. They try to corrupt people into being their pawns, unwitting or otherwise."

"Do you believe that Tzeentch is a force intending to destroy the universe?"

"I don't honestly know," I say. "But I believe so, yes. He just goes about it differently than the other two."

"Then if you claim to hold to this principle, do not question whether you should follow one who goes against it or not. Rarely is one ever certain about anything, but better to make a mistake in confidence than to wallow in indecision and doubt."

I sigh. "You're right, of course."

Sardill gives a nod, satisfied. It's strange, that for all I had known about him from my own timeline, I still managed to underestimate him. I don't even think I could have killed him if I had decided to do so.

"A question for you, Sardill."

"Yes, Aviel?"

"Why did you ally yourself with me, without knowing my allegiances or principles?"

"You asked, and I saw no reason to refuse," Sardill replies.

"Not knowing my intentions isn't a good enough reason?" I ask.

"Can one ever be entirely certain about the intentions of others? But your words when we first met bore no dishonesty."

It's so strange to my mind, seeing him as an El'dari. I had always thought him to be hideous and unapproachable. Furthermore, I'm fairly certain that he's gay. Damnit, why am I even thinking about this now? That's a horrible train of thought!

"Thanks for talking, Sardill," I say, standing up. "I should let you get back to reading."

Sardill nods to me politely and returns to what he was reading as I take my leave.


	9. Playing God

**Playing God**

"What, you're afraid that I've become corrupted or something?" Emperor Jackson says with a crooked grin. "Don't you worry about me. I'm not about to go down that path, not even if the entire rest of my clan decides to do so."

This is quite a relief, really. Many Venari have problems with their tempers and are a bit excessively bloodthirsty at times. The promises Khorne might offer them would be quite appealing to many of them. And the word is that their progenitor has already been corrupted.

The Emperor turns his attention to trying to track down his lost Primarchs, fearing that the Ruinous Powers would seek horrible ends for them and turn them to dark purposes. But it is some time scouring the scattered worlds of the galaxy before he starts finding them and bringing them home again, and they've grown to powerful and willful adults in this time.

Some of the Primarchs are a bit resentful of being asked to follow Ender, the Emperor's 'favorite son' and the Warmaster of the Space Marines. Some even refuse at first to acknowledge him as one of them, due to his different origins. But Emperor Jackson won't take any crap from them about it.

And there are other conflicts as well. Lorgar, the Primarch of the Word Bearers legion, is upset at the Emperor's vehement refusal to be the center of worship. "Bad enough they made me the fucking Emperor, I'm not going to be a fucking god now too!"

I don't need to foresee the future, or even have known what would happen, to realize the problems that might arise. So I decide to go to have a chat with Lorgar myself. I'll have to be careful with this one. It's a delicate situation that will need to be handled with the utmost care. But if I am to deny my enemies followers, I believe I can still avert disaster here.

Lorgar is meditating in a small chamber. His eyes snap open and he looks up at me. "I said I didn't wish to be disturbed. The door was locked - how did you get in here?" Then his eyes widen a bit as it dawns on him that he didn't hear the door open, either.

"I don't need doors," I comment wryly.

"Who are you?" he wonders.

"I am Aviel Tintallia. There are matters which I wish to speak with you about."

"I am listening."

I fold my arms across my chest and look down at him pensively. If he were standing, he would be towering over me. He is one that I had encountered before, in another place and time, but I had more contact with another of his legion, a man named Sindri, one who is yet to be born. It was Sindri who introduced me to the Ruinous Powers and led me eagerly down the paths of corruption.

"The Emperor is not the god you're looking for," I say. "He rejects your worship and denies his godhood, and rightly so, for he is not a god at all."

"Heresy," Lorgar murmurs, although his heart isn't in it.

I smirk. "How can he be a god when he denies it himself? Besides that, he is, in fact, working for me."

Lorgar looks at me in confusion. "I do not understand."

"I am the god you seek."

"The Emperor never mentioned you," Lorgar says. "He abhors religion and dislikes acknowledging divine entities of any sort."

"Indeed," I say. "That is why I have not revealed myself to him as such. One must approach people in a manner favorable to them. I am not so vain as to demand the outright worship of all of my followers. Only their obedience. With his attitude, he will never accept a god. But he will listen carefully to the word of a trusted advisor whose true nature he cannot comprehend."

"I see," Lorgar says thoughtfully. "I believe that what you say may be true. But I cannot act without proof."

"Then meditate on my words. The truth will be clear to you soon enough." With that, I vanish without a further word.

I established a mental connection to him while I was there. I am in his every thought. He has not truly been corrupted yet, although he is susceptible to it at this point. I can only hope that he believes me, but now is not the time to doubt myself. I must be a god for him.

I quietly slip into Lorgar's meditations, letting him feel my presence. I decide to reveal to him in visions what has brought me up to this point, starting with Til'raine. I show him the destruction caused by the Necrons. The birth of humanity and the curse of Caine. Little more than a blip at the end is the rise of the Emperor. Striking down the Necrons in one bold stroke. All by my guidance.

Lorgar's awe at what he sees is clear, and he realizes that his devotion was misplaced, as was his being upset at the rejection of that devotion. "I believe you," he thinks. "You work in mysterious ways, and you don't always reveal your hand guiding things. But all this has happened by your guidance. Now I feel like such a fool for ever having thought that a mere man were a god."

I can feel his devotion building within him, offering me his worship, his life, his very soul. It's a strange feeling, but I welcome it, offering him in return whatever strength and protection that I can. I've never experienced being the target of such total devotion before. I don't know that I'm entirely comfortable with it, but it seems so natural...

"Now, let me show you my enemies," I tell Lorgar. "The Ruinous Powers, the three heads of the Wyrm, the Chaos Gods. They wish to bring destruction upon all that I have built. They are anathema to me, and all those who would serve them are heretics in my eyes."

I send images into his mind of their followers. Vampires. Black Spiral Dancers. Mages. Ordinary human cultists on any number of different worlds. All of them falling into madness and rapidly spiraling into darkness.

"Many of them are beyond any hope of redemption but in death," I continue. "I want you to be my fist. Bring swift righteous justice down upon those who would tread the paths of evil. Cleanse them all in holy fire."

Lorgar is quite pleased at my orders. "Yes, my lady. It shall be as you command."

"I set a task before you to prove your devotion to me. There is one among your ranks who secretly serves the Ruinous Powers. He would bring corruption to you if you allow him to love. His name is Kor Phaeron. Slay him in my name."

"Kor Phaeron?" Lorgar murmurs, eyes widening at the name of his trusted friend.

"He has been hiding his true allegiance for a long time," I reply. "Laying in wait for the chance to whisper words into your ear in an effort to lead you astray."

"I see," Lorgar thinks, sighing. "He will not get the chance to do so. Not now, not ever again."

"Good," I reply, sending across the bond feelings of pleasure and encouragement. I recognize it for what it is now: a soul bond. Used by demons and deities alike to draw power from their followers and in return, grant some of their own to their favorites as desired.

I didn't create it. Lorgar formed it on his own, willingly, with his own power.

"Well done," whispers the voice of Tzeentch in my head.

"Shut up," I think back. "Don't think I did that because I thought you might want me to. Or not want me to. Or anything else, for that matter."

"Oh, but you are an interesting case, my daughter," Tzeentch replies. "I am quite interested in seeing what else you might do."

"But I'm not interested in talking to you right now." I close my eyes, and with a force of will, I block out the chaotic voices in my head.

My work here isn't done yet.

Next, I go to pay a visit to Magnus the Red. I catch him alone, studying diligently on some book of sorcery that he had picked up somewhere.

"Sorry to interrupt," I say, approaching behind him. "I'm Aviel Tintallia."

Despite all else, I feel a small bit of comfort at seeing him again, even if it's a different version of him, and one that does not yet serve Tzeentch. And won't, if I have anything to do with it.

Magnus looks up at me in surprise. "Greetings," he says. "What do you need?"

"I understand you've had some problems with rampant mutations among your legion?" I say.

Magnus nods. "Yes, I've been looking for a way to deal with the issue."

"I think I can help with that," I say. "I know someone who specializes in that sort of thing. Take your legion back to Terra and use the gate there to reach Til'aris. I'll go find her and bring her there."

"Til'aris?" Magnus repeats. "Very well."

Magnus doesn't immediately trust me, but then I didn't really give him any reason to do so. He heads back to Earth as I bid him, and speaks to the Emperor there on our meeting.

"Aviel, huh?" Jackson says. "Well, that's good."

"You know her?"

Emperor Jackson nods. "She's one of my top advisors, but she generally works behind the scenes. I trust her. Go on to Til'aris."

I find Harmony off on the plane of Straegarx, dealing with a city of gnomes. Mutation and environmental pressure had long degenerated their stature, but Harmony is stabilizing their still-volatile genome, using one of the templates she and Amanda had designed during the War of Transformation. It's strange seeing her do this. Had she done this in my own timeline as well? I had always believed that she had been running around creating mutants, not stabilizing what mutants were already there into races that could survive in the long run.

"Hey," I greet her. "Nice work here."

"Thanks," Harmony says. "What's up?"

"I've got some friends who could use your magic touch. They're coming to meet up with us in Til'aris."

"Sounds good," Harmony says. "Lemme just finish up here and I'll head back to the Nexus."

I like Harmony. She's easy to deal with. All she really wants is a chance to use her powers and make people happy by doing so. Unlike Sardill, she has deep-set principles that she refuses to bend no matter what. She won't use her power on people without their consent, and won't use it as a weapon. I can respect that.

Harmony hasn't arrived in Til'aris yet when Magnus and the Thousand Sons get there. Instead, they run across Sardill, who has been inspecting the runes along the streets, trying to decipher them and discover how they work.

"What is this place?" Magnus wonders, staring at everything.

"This is Til'aris," Sardill replies absently. "It is a powerful node of magical energy located deep within the Ethereal Plane."

"Who are you?"

"I could ask the same thing of you," Sardill says with a shrug. "I am Sardill. I run the school of magical research and learning here in Til'aris."

"I'm Magnus the Red, Primarch of the Thousand Sons... what's this about a magic school?"

"Did Aviel send you here?" Sardill asks.

Magnus nods. "She did. She said she knew someone who could cure mutations."

"Ah. That would be my cousin, Harmony," Sardill says. "I am Aviel's ally as well. I will show you to this school while you wait for Harmony to arrive." He looks over Magnus thoughtfully. "You are quite powerful, but it is yet unrefined. There is much you could learn here."

I can be thankful that this Empire isn't excessively xenophobic. Many of those learning in Til'aris at the moment aren't human, although Jackson had sent a couple students from Earth as well as something of a peace offering. A fair number of uncorrupted Glemarn have wound up here as well. It's starting to feel like a real city again.

Harmony arrives in Til'aris and sizes up the Thousand Sons. Magnus looks askance over this little black girl. She isn't thirteen anymore, but she hasn't bothered looking any older yet. At least she isn't looking like a tentacled monstrosity regularly anymore.

"This little girl is the one you said could help us?" Magnus says incredulously to me.

Harmony looks indignant. "Oh, come on. Everyone is little next to you. Besides, I think I'm actually older than you."

"If you say so," Magnus says dubiously. "So, what can you do?"

"I'm your one-stop source for all your transformative needs," Harmony says proudly. As a demonstration, she smoothly shifts form into a dwarf, an El'dari, an elephant, then a mirror image of Magnus himself, before returning to her normal form.

Magnus looks somewhat alarmed. "You can... do that?"

I put in, "I can also assure you that Harmony is not corrupted, insane, or whatever else."

"Well... the Emperor said he trusts you, so I'll take your word on that," Magnus says.

Harmony proceeds to get to work on analyzing the Thousand Sons' genetic structure, then carefully correcting and stabilizing it. I just need to remember to make sure Harmony never gets too bored...

Lorgar is working on converting the Word Bearers. I can feel bonds forming, one by one, and with each one I sense my power increase just a little. There could be enormous amounts of energy at my beck and call if this sort of thing keeps up.

I shouldn't let it go to my head, though. I'm an artificial deity. True deities, I realize, don't need worshippers to supply their power. They get it from being a part of the fabric of the universe itself, and won't lose it even if no one cares about them any longer and their names are forgotten.

Well, no time to rest now. I need to focus and keep an eye on what's going on in the universe and be ready for an opportunity to make my next move. I settle in into my house in Til'aris and meditate, carefully watching what each of the Primarchs are doing and keeping myself apprised of every event. I've averted two major issues with them, but they aren't the only ones. I just need to find the right place to put pressure...

My meditations are interrupted by Emperor Jackson himself storming into my house. "Aviel!" he exclaims. "Pay attention to me, girl. Don't give me that glazed-out look."

"I am here," I say. "What do you need?"

"Did you tell Lorgar to start a cult dedicated to you as a god?" Jackson demands.

Well, not precisely, but no point in arguing over semantics. "Yes," I reply.

"Why, in the name of fuckity-fuck, why!"

I take a deep breath and attempt to explain. "Because you rejected his worship, and if I did not, he would have found something else far less pleasant to worship."

"Be that as it may, I'd rather have him not worshipping anything," the Emperor says. "And not have you trying to build yourself up as a cult icon. I thought I could trust you!"

I cast him a somewhat hurt look. "Jackson, I understand how you feel, and I definitely don't actually believe myself to be a real deity. I simply thought that this was the best way of ensuring his continued loyalty to the Imperium."

"And so you just went and did it, and didn't think to come and warn me of your suspicions first instead?" Emperor Jackson says.

"I apologize for that."

"Apologies aren't good enough, Aviel," the Emperor says, punching his palm. "You created this mess, and you're going to undo it. Declare that you're not really a god and that they shouldn't worship you. That is an imperial command!"

I sigh deeply. "No."

"Are you refusing my orders, Aviel?"

"I cannot follow your orders, Jackson," I say. "I'm sorry." Never mind that I find myself a little insulted by his temerity. I'm not under his command and never have been.

"Damnit, Aviel," Jackson says, quietly but fiercely. "Don't do this to me now."

"I have to do what I think is best for the universe, regardless of what anyone else believes," I say. "You've come a long way, Jackson, but you forget that I've been around since before Adam took his first steps on Earth."

"You damned El'dari are all the same," Jackson spits. "Thinking that you're all ancient and wise, and therefore know better than anyone else. That it gives you the right to withhold important information because we wouldn't understand, or because you can't be bothered to explain it to our puny monkey brains."

"It's not like that-"

"You damned well could have fooled me!" Jackson snaps, interrupting my protests. "Enough is enough! I have had it with you motherfucking El'dari on my motherfucking planet! Don't come back. And Vistri too. I fear it's too late to convince Lorgar otherwise, but I'd rather lose one Primarch than my entire damned Imperium."

"Jackson-"

"That's Emperor Jackson!"

He stomps out again without letting me get in a further word. Well, crap. This isn't good. If things go too badly, I might just lose the support I've managed to garner in Lorgar and Magnus, too. Well, failing all else, at least I can still count on Sardill to be on my side, if nothing else. Counting my blessings and winding up with Sardill makes me kind of wonder if I'm not the one on the wrong side here.

It's not like Jackson to let his Venari rage get the better of him like that. It's also not like him to go all Emperor like that, either. Could he have seriously been corrupted after all? Or is he just being needlessly bigoted?

But it's not like someone needs to worship the Chaos Gods in order to be a pawn of the Void. And someone doesn't even need to be evil to be wrong.

"Lorgar," I think.

"Yes, my lady?"

"I should warn you, if you haven't found out already. Your Emperor is rather upset with me at the moment. He has forbidden me from returning to Earth - as if he could actually stop me anyway - and he will turn against you if you do not renounce me."

Lorgar is quiet for a few moments. I can sense his apprehension through our bond. I wonder absently if that only goes one way, or if he might on occasion sense my emotions as well.

Perhaps I really should have expected this turn of events. Of course if Jackson was upset about people wanting to worship him, he wouldn't appreciate them worshipping anyone else, either. But it still seems to me like he's overreacting a bit here.

"I will not renounce you, my lady," Lorgar tells me finally. "Not even for the sake of my father. You are the one true god of the universe, and his continued denial of you is heresy."

I can't help but wonder if I should be feeling relief or dread at the moment. "This will tear the Imperium apart. But I think that was inevitable regardless."

"I will attempt to garner whatever support I may for you. I do not fear whatever retribution may come upon me for spreading your holy word."

"If you need a place of refuge, come to Til'aris," I tell him, then plant instructions on how to use any gate to do so in his mind. "If you have trouble getting to a word with a gate, Lezaria should be safe for now."

"Thank you, my lady. I will set to work immediately."

Vistri and Caine show up at my place shortly. Caine looks... quite upset. "Aviel, what the hell is going on?" Caine asks.

"Jackson's pissed at me," I reply.

"No shit," Caine says. "What's this about you claiming to be a god?"

"I was trying to deny the Chaos Gods followers," I say, sighing. "Jackson doesn't seem to understand that, though."

"I'm having a hard time understanding it myself, but I think he's gone over the line about it, regardless," Caine says. "I don't know if this is better or worse than the alternative."

"To be honest," I say quietly. "I think even if this does tear apart the Imperium, if I've prevented even one person from falling to Chaos who otherwise would have, it's worth it."

Caine shakes his head. "We're going to need to do something about Jackson. However justified he might have been at being upset at you, I cannot condone his actions."

"What did he do?" I ask.

"Well, besides kicking me and Vistri off the planet, for starters?" Caine says, practically snarling over that. "He declared martial law the minute he got back from Til'aris. And I fear he's about to start slaughtering civilians over it or something."

"Right, this is bad," I say.

Caine shakes his head unhappily. "I will kill him if I have to, but I'd rather it not come to that. I sent Zillah to try to make him see reason, to calm him down a bit, but I don't know if it'll do any good or not."

I cast about with my mind and find Magnus in the school of Til'aris, discussing magical theory with Sardill. He must not have heard the news yet. "I need to go speak with Magnus," I say, standing up and compulsively brushing myself off. "Hopefully he, at least, will be interested in listening to reason."

I leave Caine and Vistri to try to figure out what they're going to have to do about Jackson, and head over to the school. There's a lot of Thousand Sons still hanging around Til'aris. I wonder if almost the entire legion is here at the moment.

"Magnus?" I say from the doorway. "We need to talk."

"Come on in, Aviel. What is it?" Magnus says.

"It's about Emperor Jackson," I say. "You haven't been on Earth, so I guess you haven't heard yet."

"What's going on?" Magnus wonders.

"Jackson is... kind of furious with me at the moment," I say. "And blaming El'dari for his troubles, for starters. So much so that he even threw Vistri and Caine off the planet. I didn't care to correct him that Vistri isn't technically an El'dari and I'm not at all, but that's beside the point. This was all because Lorgar started a cult to worship me as a divine entity. Lorgar might've latched onto it a bit hard, but I couldn't let him just run off and throw himself at the feet of the Chaos Gods."

Magnus stares at me. "Okay, slow down here. You say you've got Lorgar worshipping you now?"

I nod. "He was... rather upset over being rejected by the Emperor. He's a fanatic at heart and needs something to throw his devotion behind. So I kind of stepped in and convinced him to worship me instead."

"And the Emperor is angry about this," Magnus says.

"He's overreacting and fearing losing the entire Imperium over it," I say. "I've never seen him act like this. He always hated the fact that he was pretty much forced into his position, and now he's clinging to it like he's afraid of losing even an inch of it."

Sardill just looks at me quietly. He doesn't even need to say anything. I know where his loyalty lies.

"This puts me in a difficult position," Magnus says. "You went out of your way to help us and offer shelter and knowledge, but I'd rather not be the one to betray my father if it need not come to that."

"I understand," I say.

"I'm going to go back to Earth to try to talk to him."

"Good luck. You'll need it."

Magnus gives a nod and a sigh, and heads out.

I cast my gaze to Earth, to see what might be transpiring around Emperor Jackson. He's speaking with Zillah at the moment. He doesn't seem to be upset with her. And there's another woman with them. Who is that? Wait, I know that woman. That's... Lilith? Oh, hell, this can't be good.

I look to warn Magnus, but he's already through the gate and heading toward where the Emperor is. I contact him telepathically. "Be careful, Magnus," I tep to him. "This woman is a demon." I show him an image of Lilith.

Magnus is rather alarmed, though whether more at my chosen method of communication or at my words is hard to guess. He doesn't seek to reply, and heads into Jackson's office.

"Magnus," Jackson says. "Where have you been? Where's the rest of your legion? Are they still in that damned xeno city?"

"What's going on, father?" Magnus asks.

"I've already lost Lorgar to them," Jackson says. "And now you've been spending an awful lot of time consorting with those aliens too. I could ask you what's going on, too."

"They cured my legion's mutation problems," Magnus replies. "And we only went there because you said you trusted her! What am I supposed to think?"

"You've become too reliant on your xenos and sorcery," the Emperor says. "You must renounce them both, or I shall renounce you instead."

Magnus gives a long, quiet look to the Emperor, and then to Lilith standing behind him, smiling impishly and not even trying to hide it.

"And you, I fear, have been listening to the whispers of Chaos," Magnus says quietly.

"How dare you!" the Emperor says.

"Think, father. Don't let their words or your anger cloud your judgment!"

"Begone from my sight!" the Emperor roars. "I will not raise a hand against my beloved son, but if you return here, you had best be properly repentent, or face the consequences."

"I'm sorry, father," Magnus says, shoulders slumping as he turns to head back to the gate.

* * *

"Aviel. That woman you warned me about. Who is she?"

"Her name is Lilith," I reply, rubbing my temples. Today hasn't been a good day, all in all.

"Lilith?" Vistri repeats. "She was there?"

Caine swears under his breath. "If Lilith has gotten to him, no wonder Jackson's acting so strangely."

"I think we must have lost Zillah, too," I add. "This is not good."

"No, it's not," Caine agrees.

"We're going to have to kill Jackson, aren't we," I say grimly.

Magnus shakes his head. "We just need to get him away from those women and clear his head out. He'll come around and see reason then, I'm sure."

"Maybe," Caine says dubiously. "If he hasn't gone too far already. I don't like the idea of killing my own grandchilde, but we may not have any choice in the matter."

We're still discussing how to go about this when Lorgar arrives in Til'aris and enters the conference room. "My lady," he says, genuflecting toward me reverently.

"Lorgar," I greet him.

"And there's the fellow in the middle of all this himself," Caine says dryly. "Lorgar, couldn't you have been a little more subtle, at least?"

"What do you mean?" Lorgar asks.

"Oh, just your overzealous conversion spree that set Jackson off like a Chinese firework," Caine goes on.

"I was not being 'overzealous'," Lorgar snaps. "I had barely managed to spread word to my own legion of the name of the one true god before her warning came to me of his reaction."

"It does seem strange that he reacted so swiftly and violently," I comment. "I'd suspect a traitor within your legion, but I think I'm going to lay the blame for this one on Lilith instead."

"Who is this Lilith?" Lorgar asks.

"She is a mutant from the long-dead world of Vel'kira, of which Til'aris was once the capital," Vistri explains. "A temptress and seductress who would lead the unwary down the paths of darkness."

"I see," Lorgar says darkly, and shakes his head. "I see the true cause behind this trouble. My lady, you told me that you are not so vain as to demand the worship of your followers. But the Emperor did not seem to realize that he was, in fact, your subordinate, rather than your superior. You did not demand, and merely stayed in the shadows and guided him. I do not seek to question your divine wisdom, but can you afford to do this any longer? Forgive me, my lady, if I overstep my bounds."

"It's alright, Lorgar. I'll prefer that you speak your mind and I will hear what you have to say, so long as you do not hesitate when it comes time for following orders."

"Of course, my lady. Then might I suggest that you ensure the devotion of these whom you claim as your allies?"

I glance around the room at the others who are suddenly looking somewhat alarmed. Caine, Vistri, Sardill, and Magnus are all gathered here at the moment, and I would not dare to say that I do not trust them.

"What are you suggesting, Lorgar?" Caine says, narrowing his eyes.

"Devote your souls to the one true god, the great lady, Aviel Tintallia," Lorgar says. "This is no time for half measures. We need to be certain of our allies now."

Caine sighs in frustration. "Fine, if that's what will make you happy. But there's no need to turn the conference table into an impromptu altar. Is there a damned temple in this city?"

I put in quietly, "I think I'd prefer an undamned temple."

I cast about the city for a suitable location, and find an abandoned temple down the street a short ways. If it ever had any enchantments or sacraments over it, they've long since unraveled. Actually, I think it's the same building as the later Temple of Souls that the Elkandu had used. I show Lorgar the location in his mind.

Lorgar nods in acknowledgment, and says, "This way." He gestures to the others to follow.

Magnus' face looks conflicted and I can see he clearly has some reservations about this, but he decides to keep them to himself for the moment and just falls in behind the rest of us to head to the temple.

I also notice Lorgar's attempting to give me overblown titles and failing to come up with anything good, so I quietly suggest to him my association with the element of fire, and with time. He seems delighted at that.

"This will suffice," Lorgar says as he steps into the temple and looks around.

The place is plain and unadorned, in stark white, with spacious, ribbed vaulted ceiling. Plenty of room to decorate the place accordingly. I'll leave that to Lorgar, though, since he seems to enjoy this.

"I hereby consecrate this place in the name of the one true god, Aviel Tintallia, Mistress of Time, Keeper of the Holy Flame."

I wonder absently if it was such a good idea to encourage this large ham. He raises his hands over his head before the altar, and I think it's my cue to do something godly. I call down a shaft of pure, white light to cascade down upon the altar and Lorgar. I send globes of flickering, lambent blue flame to hang from the ceiling, and bursts of crackling fire in the braziers beside the altar.

"Step forth, Magnus the Red, and give your soul to the great lady."

Magnus looks from side to side, and says, "I don't know about this, brother... She's a powerful sorceress, but..."

"Do you doubt the divinity of our lady?" Lorgar says, giving Magnus a hard look.

The situation is delicate. I say silently to Lorgar, "One moment, please. I will handle this."

"As you wish, my lady," Lorgar thinks.

I establish a telepathic connection to Magnus, a bit more difficult for his much higher psychic potential, but I'm only attempting surface communication here and not invading his mind. "We both know exactly what I am. I'll not insult your intelligence by claiming to be something I'm not. This ritual, for all its religious trappings, is merely to establish a magical bond that will allow us to enhance one another's power and communicate instantaneously more easily. I can show you a book that tells all about such bonds."

This seems to mollify Magnus, and he relaxes a bit and nods. He teps back at me, "Very well. Then I'll play along with this for Lorgar's sake."

Magnus steps forward and kneels before the altar, and proclaims his undying devotion to me, body and soul. I feel a rush of power as the bond snaps into place. He is much more powerful than the others that had bonded with me so far.

"That... is a very strange sensation," Magnus thinks to me.

"You have full access to all of my power and knowledge whenever you require it," I promise him silently.

"Thank you."

Sardill steps forward next, and pauses for a moment before the altar. He looks aside to Lorgar and says quietly, "Whether you worship her because she is a god, or she is a god because you worship her, is irrelevent. The end result is the same. I have already freely offered her my loyalty. I have no qualms about offering my soul as well."

The ritual is performed again, and for a second time I see Sardill very carefully and deliberately lowering his magical resistance in order to permit this. Another bond is formed. Yet more power flows into me. I cannot say whether Sardill or Magnus were the stronger - their power has a very different feel to it. Sardill's is like the light of the sun, while Magnus is a powerful laser.

It's Caine's turn next. He mutters barely audibly, "This is stupid."

"Don't worry, Caine," I assure him silently. "I'd be perfectly happy with vegetables."

Caine has to laugh aloud at that, and I grin at him knowingly. Lorgar gives a bit of an odd look for a moment, but Caine is a lot more relaxed as he goes about the ritual. The ceremony finishes with Vistri, following Caine's lead as always.

With such powerful people connected to me, I almost feel like a god as it is now. I can feel each one of them clearly in my mind if I wish. They may have had different reasons and motivations that brought them to this point, but each one of them is, indeed, faithful to me.

Lorgar isn't fully satisfied until he is certain that everyone in Til'aris at least is devoted to me. He goes about his work eagerly, bringing the Thousand Sons into the fold, and the other students at the school. I feel a little as though my soul will become entangled under this many connections like this.

As they work on that, Sardill comes to speak with me alone in my house. "I can imagine that you will be a force to be reckoned with now, with real power behind you to go with that skill."

"Hell, I'm almost feeling like a real mage now," I say with a snort. "Don't know that I'm quite up to 'god' yet, though."

"Will you seek to use this newfound power to destroy your enemies before they can cause further disruption in your plans?"

I think about this for a moment. "I need to be careful that whatever I do doesn't inadvertently cause more harm than good for my plans."

"Do you feel that there is more danger in what you might do, or what you do not do?" Sardill asks.

"Hell, I don't know anymore. And I've stopped trying to predict the future - it doesn't work. I think, however, that I've had enough of sitting in the shadows. For better or worse, I'm in the game now, and I'm damned well going to play it."

Sardill nods thoughtfully, then asks, "What are you going to do about this Emperor Jackson?"

"Caine's right. I want to try to save him somehow, first. But failing that... I won't shirk at killing him if need be."

He nods again, and says, "Good." Satisfied, he leaves the room.

Saulot is still on Earth. I don't know if he knows just how badly things are going at the moment, but either way he might offer something helpful, so I go to visit him. Jackson wouldn't have been able to actually prevent me from going to Earth before; he's certainly not going to now.

"Saulot?" I say, appearing beside him. "Status?"

"We've got problems," he replies.

I groan. "Tell me about it."

"Jackson's declared me and my clan to be traitors," Saulot says.

I stare at him. "Why on Earth would he do that?"

"He's behaving very irrationally," Saulot says. "I can only guess that he thought I was too close to Caine or something. I'm not even sure why he had the sheer gall to try to exile Caine, of all people. I can only assume Caine only went along with it because he didn't want a fight."

"I think Jackson's been corrupted," I say. "And Zillah as well. Lilith was with them..."

"Lilith? Like we needed anymore problems right now."

"We need to move on Jackson before it's too late," I say.

"I'm with you," he says.

I'm afraid that it's going to come down to killing him, and even with all the power I've received, I doubt it's going to be that easy. I'm primarily a fire mage, and Jackson's probably strong enough with the Venari clan powers that he's immune to fire by now. Teleporting him into water would be ideal, but he's probably got significant magic resistance and wards, especially if augmented by those women he was with. What am I going to have to do, lure him to a swimming pool or something and push him in? That's just pathetic.

Through my bond with Caine, I inform him of what's been happening here. His reply: "Kill him. Kill him, please."

After that business with Abel, Caine had always been reluctant to kill unless absolutely necessary, especially one of his own descendants. But at the same time, there were lines he would not cross, and he would do anything to protect those descendants if need be.

"He's at the capitol building, but the place is heavily warded," I say. I'm very good at scrying if I know exactly where I'm looking, and normal wards can't keep my eyes out at least.

"Yeah," Saulot replies. "My own people made sure it was well protected. To think that's turned against us like this so suddenly..."

As we approach the capitol building, we're stopped by Ender and a squadron of Blood Dragons. "Stop," Ender demands. "You're not supposed to be here."

"Ender," I say.

"We have orders to place the two of you under arrest."

"Is that what your orders actually said?" I ask.

Ender pauses. "No, but I see no need to kill you if you're not fighting back."

"Ender, listen to me, please," I say. "Your father is behaving irrationally. His mind has been influenced by dark forces. We might still be able to save him before this goes too far."

Ender stares at me quietly for a moment. "I know what you say may be true. But regardless, I cannot allow anyone to bring harm to him needlessly. I'm hardly convinced that he's the real threat here."

"We don't want to harm him, Ender," I say. "We need to see him. If we surrender to you, will you take us to him?"

Ender thinks on that for a moment, then nods. "Fine. But only if you let us put these on you first." He pulls out a couple of collars.

Psychic inhibitor collars. Saulot just gives me a look as if wondering if I'm really going to go along with this. I don't know if even my enhanced abilities would be able to break through one of those. But I'm less concerned about it than perhaps I should be under the circumstances.

"Very well," I tell him. "Go ahead."

I take that back. I'm extremely nervous about this. Especially after they snap the collar around my neck, and it's like dropping a blindfold over my eyes. You forget how much you rely on something until it's suddenly gone. Saulot looks at me like this is a really bad idea, but he follows my lead. Perhaps he's hoping that I have some sort of grand plan or something to get us out of this. But I have no plans anymore, only instincts waiting for an opportunity. No plan survives contact with reality.

Surrounded by a knot of Space Marines, we are brought into the building. I have a feeling of dread beyond any that being able to predict the future would bring.

The Emperor is there, sitting casually in an office chair as if it were a throne, flanked by Lilith and Zillah still. He raises an eyebrow as Ender parades us inside.

"We have brought the traitors to you as ordered, father," Ender says.

Jackson looks us over for a long moment. I could swear there's something strange about his eyes. "I told you to bring me their heads. I suppose a liberal interpretation of that includes bringing them still attached. But I'll be happy to watch you finish the job for me now."

"Father?" Ender says with surprise. "They're helpless. They're no threat to you now."

"Good," Jackson says. "So they won't fight back. Would hate to scratch your armor or anything, right?" He chuckles darkly. "Or perhaps you would prefer to kill them in a straight-up fight? Violence really gets the blood pumping, after all."

"What is wrong with you, father? They surrendered!"

"What happened to your nerve, Ender?" Emperor Jackson says tauntingly, voice positively dripping with disgust. "Don't have the stomach for it now? Fine, then just take them to the cells if you must. I'll deal with them myself in a bit."

I hear an almost inaudible click from my collar, and feel my power returning to me. Immediately I know who is responsible for this. I have an expert in this sort of thing bonded to me.

"Thanks, Sardill," I tell him silently. I quietly do the same for Saulot.


	10. Fighting Fire

**Fighting Fire**

I tep to Saulot, "Let's go to this cell of his. He'll probably come to see us alone, and then we can strike."

Saulot gives an acknowledgment. Ender reluctantly leads us off to a cell, very conflicted. He's in a terrible position right now and I have a lot of sympathy for him. Saulot and I are left together in a dimly-lit ten-foot cell, and the door is locked and sealed behind us.

"I think it's far too late for him," Saulot murmurs. "How did he go so wrong, so quickly? Or did we just fail to see the buildup?"

"It doesn't matter now, I suppose," I say with a sigh. "The agents of the Void are far more insidious than I had given them credit for. How do you find a balance between caution and paranoia?"

I'm inside the wards now, so I survey the immediate area. There's no sources of water anywhere. No swimming pools, no reflecting ponds, no fountains, no water in the fire suppression system, even the restrooms are dry. I think Jackson falls squarely on the side of paranoid in that scale. True conjuration would take too long to get enough water to actually hurt him. Teleporting in water from outside through the wards would also be difficult.

Maybe I should just forget the water thing. Vampires are undead, so holy power should also work on them. I tep to Saulot, "Any ideas on how to kill him? Would your holy powers work?"

Saulot replies, "Yes, they should. He may be resistant to fire and normal sunlight, but holy power should still get through."

"I'll keep that in mind," I think.

The door opens, and Jackson strides in, alone as I had hoped. "I didn't expect you to just turn yourselves over. But it makes things easier this way, even if there's less sport in it."

"You won't get away with what you've done, Jackson," Saulot says.

Jackson just snorts. "I'll deal with you first. You know, I've always resented the fact that Caine did not embrace me himself. Why was I relegated to playing second fiddle when I am the Emperor of all of Mankind? It's high time to rectify that oversight."

"You wouldn't," Saulot says, eyes widening.

"Oh, yes, I would," Jackson replies. "And then when I'm done here, I'll see about hunting down Caine himself!"

"You're insane," Saulot says.

"Hah. Am I? I don't care," Jackson says with a feral grin. "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!"

Saulot and I simultaneously throw up wards reflexively to keep Jackson away from him. Jackson is momentarily surprised and taken off guard as he realizes that our inhibitor collars have been disabled. Saulot tries to take advantage of the situation and cast a burst of holy light from his third eye down upon Jackson. But the spell melts away as an incredible magic resistance surrounds him.

"You think your puny sorceries are going to touch me? Khorne has made me strong!" Jackson declares.

"So now you're playing second fiddle to Khorne instead?" I say. "Great improvement there."

To get through that magic resistance, I think we're going to need to down him with an indirect attack, and there's nothing to use as a weapon in here. I telekinetically force the door open again and dart out past him into the hallway.

Jackson gives chase. "You're not getting away from me now!"

Saulot comes out after, but we're shortly intercepted by Lilith, to make this a two on two fight. So much for even that small numerical advantage. I find a nearby table and hurl it at Jackson telekinetically. It breaks into splinters against him and doesn't seem to do much more than piss him off. I snatch up one of the broken table legs, hoping to use it as a makeshift stake.

The world erupts into flames. A curtain of fire surrounds Jackson, preventing anyone from getting close. I back up to where Saulot is, trying to shield him from it, but he doesn't seem to need it just now. His shields are still holding for the moment.

"Run," Saulot thinks to me. "This isn't a good place to fight."

I take his advice and the two of us run off down the burning corridor. "Maybe we can lure him outside?" I suggest silently.

"Good idea," Saulot replies. "He's too angry to think rationally. We can use that to our advantage."

We come out of the corridor and into a large room, perhaps a conference room or cafeteria. It's hard to tell with everything on fire. Why is this madman burning down his own capitol building? Is killing us really worth it? Or is he just out of control? I stumble over blazing furniture as we keep running, Jackson not far behind us. But the path to the main entrance is blocked by a collapsed ceiling. We quickly backtrack and try to find another way, and after scrambling around more burning hallways, I think we've lost him for the moment, for better or worse.

"Are you okay?" I ask Saulot, looking at him in concern. I can't imagine what might be going through a vampire's head in this sort of situation. He's still unhurt, but even my own shields are having trouble holding off the intensity of this fire.

"No," Saulot replies. Even his mental voice is near in a state of panic. "My shields are holding for now, but it's taking all I have to resist the red fear."

"I will protect you," I promise him.

He gives me a small smile. "It's funny hearing someone say that to me, of all people. Usually it's the other way around."

I make an attempt to suppress the fire around us, but there's too much of it and it's too powerful. It's fueled by raw rage, and not normal magic. I keep close to Saulot and keep moving, looking for a way out of the burning building.

"Running away now, are you?"

Lilith is in front of us. And Jackson is closing in behind us. Saulot's third eye opens and brings holy light down upon Lilith, and she shrinks away to avoid it. We push forward a bit, and I notice there's a window behind Lilith. That'll do. I hit her with a massive telekinetic fist, slamming through the wall. The demoness goes tumbling out into the grass, stunned by the force of my attack.

We hurry outside after her. Even the grass is starting to burn. We scramble into the street to get off the grass. Lilith is scrambling to her feet again, and I can feel her trying to claw at my mind with some sort of telepathic attack, but I telekinetically pick her up like a ragdoll and whack her into the pavement in front of me.

"Saulot, want to take care of this one while I hold her down?"

He nods. He's looking a bit more pale than usual, but he still calls down a flare of bright light to incinerate the immobile demoness. She shrieks in agony and squirms against my grip, but she cannot get away. After a minute of it, all that's left of her is a stain on the pavement.

"That's one down," Saulot says.

"We should've done that millennia ago," I mutter.

Jackson appears in the gap in the wall, walking unflinchingly, surrounded by flames. I do a quick scan of the area. There's a river nearby, an estuary emptying into the sea. If we could get him there and dump him in the water, that should do the trick.

"Go on, try and run," Jackson says in a raspy voice, chuckling darkly. "I love when my enemies think they can get away. I will savor killing you slowly."

He's apparently forgotten that I'm capable of teleportation. I don't feel like reminding him of that just now. I grab Saulot's arm and scramble off in the general direction of the river, making to act like I'm actually afraid of him and fleeing from battle.

Then I hear the sound of bolter fire behind me. I turn to look, and see Ender in his blood red armor standing in front of the burning building, shooting at Jackson.

"What do you think you're doing, boy?" Jackson says. "You've decided to turn traitor, too?"

"I won't let you do this," Ender says. "I've had enough of this."

"Then you can die with the rest of them," Jackson roars in a rage.

Ender screams. Gouts of flame burst forth from his eye sockets. He's burning from the inside out. I try to shield him, to douse the flames, anything, but it's too late. It's a horrible sight to see, and in a minute, there's nothing left of him but a suit of power armor full of bones and ashes.

I'm speechless for a long moment at the horror of what I've just seen. Ender didn't have any wards to protect him like me and Saulot. There's only so much that even superhuman ability can withstand.

"Come on," Saulot sends to me, snapping me out of my shock. "We need to take Jackson down. We can deal with Ender afterward."

"Right," I reply.

I turn and run away as Jackson moves to approach us again. There's a bridge spanning the estuary, and I make for it. It's the sort of place that should have cars streaming back and forth across it, but it's deserted for some reason. I don't have time to wonder why at the moment, and chalk it up to Jackson's paranoia.

Jackon pauses at the edge of the bridge as we're starting across. "What, do you really believe that about Venari being unable to cross running water? Crossing a bridge won't save you."

Good, he's overconfident and still thinks we're just trying to escape. Now to just lure him out onto the bridge and then knock it out from under him. We head out across, followed closely by Jackson. For now, he seems to be enjoying the thrill of the chase, and isn't too concerned about actually catching us just yet.

We're approaching the middle of the bridge. So far so good. Time to bring this sucker down. I pinpoint the supports in my mind, I feel their weak points, I analyze their structure. I find the right spots to exert pressure, and push.

Crack. Snap. Crumble. The bridge shakes beneath our feet. It's coming down. It's collapsing. It's falling. It's tumbling into the water.

Jackson quickly realizes what I'm doing and attaches himself to part of one of the towers that's still upright. I grab onto Saulot and telekinetically hover in the air above the bridge. I try to push down the tower Jackson is holding onto, but I can't quite seem to manage it. Did his magic resistance expand to cover that too or something?

"Alright, enough playing games," Jackson growls. "You die now."

Suddenly my magic fails me, and I and Saulot go tumbling out of the sky. Splash down hard, the icy cold water hits like a brick wall. Broken pieces of bridge threaten to impale us.

Concentrate. My magic still works, just that particular spell got unraveled out from under me. I feel like I might have broken something in the fall, though. Who knew water could be so hard? At least Saulot should be okay. Damnit, why isn't he moving? I examine him, and realize he hit a piece of bridge on the way down. He must have been seriously drained if that would knock even a vampire of his power out.

I look up. Jackson is standing on top of the tower, broken sections of bridge still crumbling around him, silhouetted by flashes of burning light. I don't know what he's doing, or why his fire doesn't seem to 'count' as magic for some reason, but he seems to be getting ready to finish us off. Damn it all. I throw up the best wards I can manage around myself and Saulot and brace myself for whatever might come next.

There's movement in the water. Something big and alive is moving in my general direction. Oh, hell, like things could get any worse, did I wind up plunging into shark infested waters on top of everything else?

But the shark isn't coming for me. It leaps out of the water, a Great White of unearthly size, and snaps up Jackson in its jaws like a morsel.

The shark splashes back into the water again and turns around and heads toward me. I close my eyes in a blind panic. What can I possibly do against this force of nature?

But it doesn't attack. The shark pushes me and Saulot to the shore, then takes on the form of a man and drags us out of the water.

"Wh-" I sputter, shivering with cold, and look up wide-eyed at this strange shark-man. A Rokea? Here, now? "Why did you help us?" I ask him quietly.

"Sea said so." Then he returns to the water again and swims away.

I'm not about to look a gift shark in the mouth, even if I am still very confused. I'm soaked to the bone with icy cold water and shivering in a very ungodly fashion. I channel a bit of fire magic at myself to warm myself up and try to dry out my clothes a bit. At least I wasn't in the water for very long.

I turn my attention to Saulot. He's wounded, drained, and in torpor. He must have spent a hell of a lot of blood on maintaining his shields against that infernal fire, as well as on fighting Lilith. It's a little disturbing to see him in this state. At least most powerful Korata vampires don't have any problem with sunlight.

I sigh, and fumble around for a moment, and then resort to using a telekinetic slice to open up my wrist, wincing a little as I do so. "Here," I murmur to Saulot, letting my blood flow into his mouth. I energize it with Catalysm as well to impart as much power into him as I can, as well.

After a few moments, Saulot slowly starts stirring again. "Mmph."

"Take it easy," I say. "I guess you took quite the beating back there. How are you doing?"

He closes his eyes again, and his wounds start healing. I regenerate the slash on my wrist and pull back a bit.

"I'm alright," Saulot says.

It's quiet out here. No sounds of civilization for a ways out. Just the sound of rushing water, and the calling of sea birds. Across the river in the distance, the capitol building is still burning. There are splashing sounds as the last loose bits of the bridge fall into the water.

"Jackson. Is he dead?" Saulot asks.

I nod.

Saulot looks sad. "There's no redemption for him. But I suppose it could not be helped." He shakes his head, and starts to stand up. "Your blood is surprisingly potent. Where did you get so much energy? And you're obviously not a shapeshifter."

"I temporarily enhanced it so that I could replenish more of your strength," I explain.

"I see," Saulot says, eyes widening a little. "Thank you. I must admit, I... don't come to expect that sort of consideration from outsiders, even to a Korata."

I'm not sure what to say to that, and I think I'm blushing. "I, um... Do you think there's still something you can do for Ender?" I ask quietly.

"Maybe," Saulot says. "Let's head back over there and take a look."

I lift us into the air telekinetically again and take us back across the river. "I wonder how many people were in there..." I murmur as we approach the still-burning capitol building.

I set us down in front of the smoldering husk of power armor. I wonder where the other Blood Dragons who had been with us got off to. Hopefully they were out of the building when Jackson set that fire off. Or maybe they didn't, and that was what finally pushed Ender over the edge. Too bad his aim hadn't been better, or he could have spared himself this fate.

Saulot looks over the remains and shakes his head. "Poor bastard. There's nothing I can do here."

"Not enough of him left to resurrect?" I ask.

"No, it's not that," Saulot says. "That was demon fire Jackson was throwing around back there, I believe. No wonder it was so difficult to ward off. It didn't just burn his body, but his soul as well."

I make a face. "That's awful."

Saulot nods solemnly in agreement. "Our victory today, such as it is, came with a heavy price attached to it."


	11. Faith and Hope

**Faith and Hope**

We return to Til'aris, and gather up a number of beleguered Korata along the way. It's been a hell of a day and I'll be glad for an opportunity to take a breather, although I doubt that I'll wind up actually getting the chance. The Imperium will be in chaos (or Chaos) following the death of their Emperor, and I'm not certain just what they might do now.

Caine and Vistri meet us at the Nexus. "What on Earth happened?" Caine wonders. "You two look like hell."

"Jackson's dead," I say. "I dropped a bridge out from under him and he got eaten by a shark."

Caine just blinks at me. "Wait, what?"

"Also, he had converted to Khorne and intended to diablerize Saulot and you," I add.

"That's insane," Caine says.

"That's what I said," Saulot agrees.

"Sadly, Ender's dead too," I say grimly. "Happily, so is Lilith." I sigh. "But all in all, this is just one huge mess, and I'd really like nothing better at the moment than to just be able to sleep for a decade."

"I know the feeling," Saulot says.

"It was just... kind of a brutal wake-up call, really," I say. "Running face-first into very malevolent and very real deities. How am I supposed to fight something like this? I'm out of my league here." I pause. "Don't tell Lorgar I said that."

"Of course," Caine replies dryly.

"Right now, I'm just going to... get cleaned up and sleep," I say. "I need to clear my mind."

"Sleep well," Saulot says.

I head off to my house. After a harrowing experience like that, it helps to do something mundane and calming. And it has been a while since I have actually slept, and not just meditated. During the earlier years I took the time to sleep a lot more, and somewhat wish now that I had spent more of that time practicing and honing my skills instead.

My sleep isn't very restful, however. I can feel Tzeentch in my mind still. He seems quite pleased with me, for some reason. I suppose I can understand that. Whether it was my intention or not, I've caused an awful lot of chaos around the galaxy recently. Still, it's unnerving. I'd like to bring about some sort of peace, order, and stability. But it's going to take a long time for that to happen at this rate.

It's become increasingly clear to me that I'm either going to need to find the support of a real deity, or become one. And I don't know how to go about the latter, at least not yet.

What about Gaia? She hasn't been very active in a while, and I don't know how to reach her, but perhaps the shapeshifters might be able to help me out with that. I'll go have a talk with the Garou and see what they can tell me.

I get up and head out of my house, to find Lorgar outside, as if standing guard. "My lady," he bows to me in greeting. "I hope that your rest period has been pleasant."

"Good morning, Lorgar," I say. "Any news?"

"I have brought the newcomers into the fold," Lorgar says. "The Korata that you brought here. Also, the Changers, Harmony and Amanda, came through, and I welcomed them into your service as well."

I blink for a moment in surprise, then say, "Well done, Lorgar. Keep up the good work."

I wonder if it's possible to actually become a true deity solely through acquiring a large number of soul bonds. At this rate, I think I might wind up finding out. Unfortunately, I don't know how to use them most effectively and efficiently just yet. I have a lot yet to learn.

I head over to Earth, and do some quick scans to get a feel for the current situation here. It appears that Zillah was also killed in the fire at the capitol building, and now the remaining Mevrasi are at each other's throats trying to consolidate power and see who might yet come out on top. I can't help but feel a little guilty for the state I've left the Imperium in, and have to wonder if there were any way I could have prevented this. But for the moment, for this crisis at least, it's too late to prevent it, and all that might be done is try to clean up the mess as best as possible and keep things from getting any worse.

I tap Caine to see what he's doing, and he replies, "Trying to sort things out and get things settled down. Jackson was in power for so long that the common people have forgotten what a real election is like anymore. I have no idea which of my descendants may yet be trustworthy or not."

Sadness carries through his mental voice very clearly and strongly. I return a flow of sympathy, comfort, and support toward him. I've never had any children, vampiric or otherwise, so I can't really imagine what this must be like for him.

Caine thanks me silently, and goes on, "Many people refuse to believe he's really dead, or are putting him up as some sort of holy martyr. I'm sure he'd be pleased as punch if he knew about that. The shapeshifters are coming forth wanting to put one of their own in charge now, and after all that's happened I can't say that I really blame them for being distrustful anymore. Why did I not notice Zillah's corruptive ambition sooner?"

"I think you did," I reply. "But you didn't want to believe it of your own childe."

"I imagine you're right," Caine teps back to me. "I will not be so blindly trustful in the future."

I head over to the sept of that Silver Fang who had come to the meeting in Til'aris before, Ironheart, and ask if he's around. I wind up having to wait around a bit for him, but he comes out to see me in a bit.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Ironheart says. "It's been hell around here today."

"Yeah, I understand that," I say. "Sorry I left you such a mess to deal with."

"Don't worry about it," Ironheart assures me. "So, what do you need?"

"Do you happen to know how I might be able to meet with Gaia?" I ask.

Ironheart stares at me for a long moment. "Wait, you're serious?"

"It's been a long time since I've seen her," I say. "Several millennia at least."

Ironheart isn't sure what to say. "Well, congratulations, you've just rendered this Philodox speechless," he says after a minute. "You see, we don't normally interact with Gaia directly, or anything. Normally only through intermediaries and such, you know?"

"She's been keeping to herself a lot lately, I see," I comment. "Back when men were taking their first steps on the Earth, she walked casually among the mortals quite regularly, often in the form of a giant wolf or another animal. But she's become awfully withdrawn of late. I wonder why."

Ironheart stares at me. "You've been around that long, and you don't have a way to contact her yourself? I'm sure she'd be willing to speak with you..."

"Perhaps," I say. "But no, I don't generally deal with spirits and whatnot. As long as I might have been hanging around here, I really have no experience in this sort of thing. I couldn't even tell you how to deal with the simplest, most common sorts of spirits... or for that matter, even tell you what those might be. You shapeshifters doubtless take a lot for granted that I'd be clueless about, although the reverse is probably true as well."

"I imagine you're right about that," Ironheart says. "I don't know much about the Fair Folk myself."

So he thinks I'm one of the Sidhe? I don't bother to correct him about it. It's probably just as well. I don't know what he might think of me if he had any idea what I really am and my full history.

"But," I go on, "this is important, and the fate of the entire universe could hang in the balance. The Wyrm grows stronger with each passing day, and I fear removing Jackson from power is only the beginning of it."

"Well, I suppose if you're serious about this, there's ways you can meet with her, but it's not going to be easy..."

The Garou are reluctant to part with their secrets, and especially protective of Gaia. But I impress on them the importance of this, as well as regaling them of my tales of the early days of mankind when I saw Gaia regularly, and they finally give in.

Following their advice, I set off on a journey through the Ethereal Plane to find Gaia. I'm nervous about this whole business, and uncomfortable being here. This is the Mid Ethereal, just past the layer where dreams are reality, and it is here that the spirits make their homes. I'm used to dealing with the Deep Ethereal realms, which tend to be a lot more fixed and real. In this place, I have to stay focused on my goal, or I might find my very surroundings melting away and leaving me trapped somewhere that I did not intend to go.

But I am determined and patient, and the prospect of a long, difficult, and very strange journey does not phase me. Gaia is the spirit of the Earth, and I think I somewhat regret not having gotten on better terms with her sooner. I didn't think much of it, since the Earth is only one planet, after all, and there are countless planets in the universe. But this is a very important planet, and Gaia is a very important spirit.

I am calm and focused. I am walking through strange terrain that one minute looks like a prehistoric jungle, then I step into a boreal forest, and walk from there onto a tropical beach, then I'm shortly wading through a marsh, scaling a high mountaintop, crossing a misty moor, swimming across a river, striding through a sunlit meadow...

And there, at the end, there she is, magnificent. She turns a fragment of her massive attention toward me, like a single eye in a sea of stars. "So. You actually came," she says. "What do you want?"

Oh, right. I'd forgotten how cranky Gaia is. "My lady Gaia," I say reverently. "I am reluctant to disturb you were it not for matters of great importance. I came to speak with you about the threat that the Chaos Gods pose to all of creation."

"Fine," Gaia says. "I will listen."

"I'm trying to fight them, but I'm finding myself out of my league," I say. "They grant their followers abilities that I don't know how to combat. And I-"

"What? Are you, with all of your borrowed power, coming to me to beg for even more?"

"No, my lady," I hastily reply. "I'm not looking for power. And I never sought power for its own sake, regardless. I'm only seeking to help and protect..."

Gaia seems dubious. "And this is why you are portraying yourself as a god to all those people."

"I was only trying to prevent them from falling to Chaos," I say.

"How stupid do you think I am?" Gaia says. "And has this little plan of yours actually helped matters any? Or has it caused just as much chaos as you sought to prevent?"

I sigh and look sheepishly to the ground. "I've been a fool, and I know it. I thought I could some good, that I could change things for the better. I don't know where this course might lead me now, but I find myself stuck with it, and I can't back out now."

Gaia seems slightly mollified. Slightly. "Fine. You admit you're an idiot. That's not good enough, though. You still run around and flail about randomly, puff yourself up like you're the most important person in the universe, and what do you have to show for it? In your first real battle with your enemy, you'd have been dead if I hadn't bailed you out!"

"You?" I reply dumbly.

"Yes, me," Gaia says. "Who do you think it is that the Rokea know as 'Sea'?"

"I... well, thank you..."

"Don't thank me!" Gaia snaps. "Stop being an idiot for a change, for starters."

I sigh softly. "What would you rather have me do?"

"Try working together with others, and not as mere followers or sources of power," Gaia replies. "And stop trying to save the universe all at once and fight the battles you can fight. You aren't going to win anything this way. Or how about trying to actually protect something or someone, instead of claiming you're protecting it while wrecking it?"

"Yes, Gaia. I will take your wisdom to heart, and I shall try my best to do so in the future," I reply humbly.

"See that you do. Now, begone," she says. "And don't come back here. If I want to speak with you, I will contact you."

My surroundings fade away, and I find myself back at the Caern where I had started this trip. It's night, whereas it had been morning when I left. I locate Ironheart nearby.

"You've returned," he says. "Did you have any success?"

I nod. "How long was I gone?"

Ironheart says, "You've been gone for almost a year."

"A year? Are you serious?" I say, looking at him, but he doesn't appear to be joking. "Is that sort of thing normal?"

"Time in the Umbra can pass strangely," Ironheart says.

Well, at least I didn't get trapped in there for a hundred years while mere minutes passed outside. That happened to me once. That's where I got my Time powers from, in fact. But it was still a hell of an experience that I don't care to repeat again if I can possibly help it.

"And yeah, I saw Gaia," I reply, rubbing my neck. "Have you made any progress on getting this alliance going, or have you been too busy trying to keep the world from falling apart in the meantime?"

Ironheart nods. "The Imperium has been dissolved, but I'm the new leader of Earth."

"Congratulations," I say. "Now please don't go insane?"

Ironheart smirks. "I'll try my best, but if I do, it'll only be because of the mess I got left with and not because I suddenly decided to become a Black Spiral Dancer."

"So what's happened with the colonies?"

"They've gone independent, for the most part," Ironheart replies. "Some have formed small coalitions." He pauses, and gives me a hard look. "Your friend, Lorgar, has been busy, by the way. He's converted a number of planets into your cult."

"Has he?" I say, raising an eyebrow, and I check on my soul bonds. There are quite a large number more than I had before. My friends still appear to be well, though.

"Tell me that this was just a misunderstanding and you haven't actually been trying to convince people that you're a deity?"

My excuses about doing so sound lamer every time I give them, so I don't even bother this time and evade the question instead. "I didn't tell him to go out and start converting entire planets or anything, to be sure."

"You didn't answer the question," Ironheart points out. "What have you gotten yourself into, Aviel?"

"I'm not crazy enough to actually think I'm a god, if that's what you mean," I say. "And yes, alright, I did convince Lorgar that I'm a god. You happy? He would've gone off to serve the Wyrm if I hadn't stepped in when I did."

Ironheart shakes his head. "Why did you not just tell him to worship Gaia instead, if you were capable of convincing him of such a thing?"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time, and hindsight is twenty-twenty?" I say. "I didn't think things would go nearly this far..."

"I've been giving you a good deal of benefit of the doubt here," Ironheart says. "However you got there, you're now the leader of one of the major factions in the galaxy. You can understand if I'd like to be sure you're not Wyrm-tainted."

I nod in agreement. "Of course. I do not serve the Wyrm, and I have no intention of falling to corruption, even if it should kill me to reject it."

"There is truth in your words," Ironheart says, nodding slightly.

"Furthermore," I continue, taking a deep breath. "It's probably a good thing that so many people have flocked to this 'cult'. They all have a connection to me now, so if any of them ever fall to corruption, I will know it." I pause. "And if I did, I'd quickly wind up dragging them all down with me..."

Ironheart looks grim at that. "How did you manage such a thing?"

"I didn't, at least not intentionally," I say. "It appears to have been an ability of Lorgar's. I don't know how he came by it, of it were just an inborn talent."

Ironheart sighs. "So whatever I think of the situation, it's imperative that you do not fall to the Wyrm no matter what."

I can't blame him if he doesn't trust in my willpower. I don't trust in my willpower, either. "Well... they'd be fine if I were killed before I could do any damage, I think," I say. "But it's good to have a contingency and all, but I've no intention of making that necessary. I will not fall to the Wyrm. I swear it."

It's as much to reassure myself as it is for him. Ironheart gives a reluctant nod, and says, "Very well." He puts his hand on his chin. "That said, we need to discuss the matter of an alliance. I wanted to wait until you returned to solidify anything, of course."

"Of course," I say. "What do you require of me?"

"Mutual assistance when needed," Ironheart says. "Especially against the forces of the Wyrm. I'd bore you with details of trade agreements, concessions, other political crap, but you don't strike me as the sort who is interested in that sort of thing."

"You'd be right," I say with a smirk.

"Don't worry about it. I'll have my people talk to your people and we can work out the details. Let's make it a pact and shake on it, shall we?"

"Agreed," I say. We shake hands.

With that, I return to Til'aris.

The place has changed since I was last here. Before, people weren't quite certain yet of their place in things. But now things have settled down, and the place is intent, organized, purposeful. It's strikingly different from the Torn Elkandu I remember, where everyone was laid back, listless, and wayward.

Thousand Sons make up the majority here, but there are also a number of El'dari, vampires, Word Bearers, gnomes, ordinary humans, and a smattering of zephyli. They're all working together in perfect cooperation as if it's only natural. They've taken up residence here, set up businesses, engaging in trade and production, all focused around furthering mystical knowledge.

People greet me reverently as I pass. They all know me. I've never seen most of them before, but they all recognize me instantly. They're all bound to me, each and every one. Their souls resonate to me with life, and I can feel their thoughts and emotions if I focus just a little on one of them. It's kind of an eerie feeling, really. All these people have more faith in me than I have in myself. I had better not disappoint them.

I pass shops set up to create and exchange enchanted items of various sorts, magical gemstones, materials, as well as mundane items like food and clothing. Harmony and Amanda have set up a changing salon. There's a hospital staffed primarily by Korata ready to heal any illnesses or injuries they can. Everything appears to be running smoothly.

This is what Torn Elkandu should have been, I think. Vastly different people all cooperating in the name of a common purpose. These are not the Elkandu I intended, but they are the Elkandu as they should have been, nonetheless.

I go into the school, and find Sardill and Magnus discussing a bit of magical technobabble at length. They pause and Magnus looks up at me in a bit of surprise as I enter. "Ah, Aviel! You've been gone for a while."

"Heh. I wasn't really planning on taking that long... it seems Gaia had other plans for me. In my mind, I only left yesterday. Imagine my surprise when I found out it had been almost a whole year. What have I missed in the meantime?"

"Things have been going pretty well around here lately," Magnus says. "Til'aris is running smoothly, and things even settled down on Earth. However, with the death of the former Emperor, most of the Space Marine legions went off out into the galaxy back to their Primarchs' homeworlds. Only the Blood Dragons stayed on Earth - they're being led by a fellow called Bean, after Ender's death."

"Has Chaos made any advancement lately?"

"I fear that some of the Space Marine legions may be heading in that direction, but it's hard to say for sure. The Emperor was the only thing holding the Imperium together, and now the colonies are mostly just a haphazard collection of planets with little contact with one another. Earth's new leader doesn't seem inclined toward trying to rule anything but just Earth, and I'd say he's got his hands full even with just that."

Maybe this is all just Gaia's way of telling me not to worry so much about people, and the universe, falling apart but for my direct intervention. These people are perfectly capable of carrying things forward on their own. I should trust them and rely on them more.

I find Lorgar in the temple, meditating quietly in front of the altar. I send strength and encouragement along my bond with Lorgar, and tell him, "You've been doing very well."

"I'm glad you are pleased with our progress," he says. "My Word Bearers have been busy spreading your holy word across the galaxy. We've already brought the Seven Planes under your banner."

I might feel worse about all he's been doing for me, but I've given him unlimited access to the full strength of my powers whenever he requires it, so it's not like this isn't benefiting him as well.

"I went to speak with Gaia, the spirit of the Earth," I say. "I've made an alliance against the forces of Chaos with her followers there."

"Who is this Gaia?" Lorgar asks.

"Another god, and one that's somewhat pissy at times," I explain. "The shapeshifters on Earth are her followers. So probably best to avoid any unwanted incidents and don't try to convert them or anything. She might get offended."

Lorgar nods. "Understood."

That was easier than I thought it would be. I was afraid he'd end up like he was with the business with Jackson, and trying to force all my allies to worship me. But I suppose he sees the idea of two gods cooperating as fundamentally different than a mere vampire thinking he's my superior.

"Have you noticed any signs of spreading Chaos corruption on the worlds you've been visiting?" I ask. "In particular, the other Space Marine legions?"

"We've located and eradicated a few questionable cults in our travels," Lorgar says. "As for the Space Marines, I do not know. I wanted to try to speak with some of the other Primarchs and convince them to join our cause, but I have not had any luck thus far."

"Do so," I say. "Either sway them or determine that they are corrupted. But they are too dangerous to leave open to the possibility of falling to Chaos. Just be careful."

"As you wish, my lady."

Things are peaceful for a time, and I step back to relax a bit and observe, watching what my followers are doing and meditating upon the state of the universe. Lorgar manages to bring three more legions of Space Marines under my command by his charisma and convincing arguments.

But the peace isn't to last, and Lorgar finds clear evidence of Chaos corruption among some of the legions. Mortarion and his Death Guard aren't even trying to conceal their affiliation with Nurgle. The plague god's followers are actively attacking remote colonies, some of which have already turned into pestilent hellholes because of it.

"Just what we need, a galactic plague on our hands," I mutter.

Humanity has been spreading rapidly across the galaxy, in a stage of uncontrolled, decentralized expansion. They've encountered a number of new alien species along the way, most of them less advanced than humanity.

Now, that freedom of movement is making a direct threat to the well-being of humanity. Plague-bearing individuals move from planet to planet, many of them not even realizing that they're infected. Before anyone realizes what is happening, billions of people are becoming ill.

I send the Korata out to try to stop the spread of the plague as best as they can, while many worlds quarantine themselves in a panic. We don't keep anyone out of Til'aris, but everyone coming here is double-checked to make sure they're clean. As it is, we use Til'aris as a choke-point for the Seven Planes, and allow people to come through and take refuge on the planes if need be.

Many people flock to worship of Nurgle for salvation from the plague, but ironically, far more of them flock to my own cult instead. I have so many healers under me that I can readily grant cures and protection from this particular disease. I'm just afraid that Nurgle will decide to unleash something unnatural and virulent that I won't be able to deal with. But this is nothing.

Holding billions of soul bonds is exhausting. It's straining the limits of my soul, ones which I had thought would be reached long before now. I feel as though my very soul will be torn apart, pulled in every which direction. I go to discuss the matter with Sardill, hoping that he might have some advice on the matter.

"You need to expand your soul," Sardill replies.

"How am I supposed to do that?" I ask.

"You will need to take in more magical energy," Sardill says. "Consuming the souls of others would be one possible solution."

"I'm not going to do that!"

Sardill shrugs. "You don't need to devour them all at once. That would be inefficient. Taking a little off the top will allow them to replenish themselves, and hence give you more energy over time than simply swallowing them whole would."

"I'm still not too sure on that idea," I say.

"You need not take more than they would even notice, but suit yourself. You can do the same with inanimate objects that contain a large reserve of magical energy, such as gemstones and luminite. Likewise, strongly magical locations will work as well. Nodes, caerns... Til'aris would be one such place."

"I think the shapeshifters would slaughter me if I started trying to suck the energy out of their caerns," I comment dryly. "And I really wouldn't want to drain the mana level in Til'aris. I wonder... is it possible to soul bond with a place as well as with a person?"

Sardill tilts his head, thinking on that for a few moments. "I see no reason why you could not create a bond with a location or an object. A soul is merely a concentrated form of magical energy. It should be possible to bond with anything that has magical energy in it. As for the consequences such an action might have, I could not tell you. It could be very risky."


	12. Soul of the City

**Soul of the City**

"I'm going to try to bond with Til'aris," I say. "I'd like you and Lorgar to help me with it."

"As you wish."

I call Lorgar to meet me at the Nexus, and head over that way with Sardill. Lorgar looks at me in some puzzlement and asks, "What is that you intend to do, my lady? What do you wish of me?"

"I want to try to bond with Til'aris itself."

"With the city?" Lorgar says in confusion, turning to look up at the pylons of the Nexus towering above us, glowing with cyan runes.

"Til'aris is no more or less alive than any humanoid entity," Sardill says. "It is old, and has a lot of power within it, but it is not truly awakened. It isn't sentient, you would say."

"How can you tell that?" Lorgar wonders.

"How can you not?" Sardill counters with a shrug.

"We can do this," I say.

"Of course, my lady," Lorgar says. "Just let me know what you require of me."

"I want you to stand there, and open yourself up to me fully," I say. "You also, Sardill. I'm going to need everything you have for this. All your power and skill."

They both nod, and I feel them both clearing their minds and letting everything they have flow into me. I can sense their knowledge, their expertise, on top of the pure strength of their souls. They trust me completely. They trust me with everything. I could easily consume them both on the spot and take everything they have for my own. But I won't do that.

I feel the mana of Til'aris, humming like a living being, vibrant and radiant with strange energy. I feel the heart and soul of the city. Not the people within it, but the city itself. Like a knot of magical power, and it has only grown stronger through the years. There are no real thoughts or emotions in it. Nothing intelligent enough to try to resist what I'm going to try to do.

I send forth roots into the city. There's so much power here... all I need to do is make it a part of myself. Or make myself a part of it. I feel it flowing into me, and me flowing into it. Together, connected, one.

It's difficult to be able to relax and let go of the self just enough to form a connection like this. To link with the city, I must become the city. I must feel the curve of every arch, the glow of every rune, the pressure of every foot standing upon its streets. I am stones, I am light, I am energy.

The bond is complete. I can feel it as clearly as I can feel Sardill and Lorgar beside me. To ease off the strain on myself, I transfer the majority of my bonds to Til'aris, keeping only a handful directly linked to me.

"It's done," I say. "Til'aris is fully mine now."

It's such a strange feeling, and so very different from being pulled tight by a billion hair-thin bonds. If I think about it even a little, I can feel the city. I can feel the smoothness of the walls, the texture of the runes, the pulse of mana through the Nexus. I need to be careful not to lose myself in it. It's really a little overwhelming.

"Aviel?" Sardill's voice echoes to me distantly. "You are not the city. You must focus if you wish to remain yourself. It is not sentient, so it has no individuality subconsciously trying to keep itself separate from you. Place a barrier between yourself and the city. With more experience, you may be able to integrate the city more completely as a part of yourself, but you are not ready for that yet."

With Sardill's assistance, I separate myself from the city and keep my mind apart from it so that I won't drift into it unless I mean to.

Things are easier on me with the city managing the majority of my bonds. I kept only the ones for Sardill, Caine, Vistri, Harmony, Amanda, Lorgar, Magnus, and Saulot. I'm less acutely aware of the status of every single person under me, but that's probably just as well, as it was growing difficult to concentrate at times. I can still check on them to make sure everything is alright if I try.

It's a good thing that I made that bond when I did, though. It's not long after that disease starts spreading on one of the planets under me. Thousands of people are all praying to me for relief simultaneously. My bonds are easier to manage now, though, and I'm capable of sending through the help they need without becoming overwhelmed by their demands.

I catch Sardill alone in the school to talk to him. "Sardill, I'd like to set a contingency spell in the event that I'm killed that would transfer all of my bonds to you."

Sardill raises an eyebrow at me. "You trust me so much?"

"Of course," I reply. "Why should I not?"

He shakes his head and says, "Very well. I will assist you with this as needed."

"I'd expected you might complain about having this burden," I say.

Sardill smirks. "You should know that I'm not generally one to complain. And why should I? You have a reason why you asked this of me, and not another such as Lorgar or Caine, correct?"

I nod. "You're a natural Catalyst. You'd be more capable of handling it."

"Your reasoning is sound. Your planning is commendable. But I am surprised that you, given your adherence to principles, do not stop to question what I might do with that should such a situation come to pass."

He's right, I hadn't thought about it. I'd gotten so used to trusting him implicitly that I had momentarily forgotten that he's so amoral. What would he do with such a setup? Would it be any better than simply handing them all over to Tzeentch?

"Are you reconsidering now?"

"Tell me, then, what would you do with that?" I ask.

Sardill looks off thoughtfully. "I will ruthlessly destroy any external threats. In times of relative peace, I will ensure that people are prepared for facing any future threats. The continued advancement of knowledge is a must. I will make technological and magical progression occur by any means necessary, even if I must pit planets against one another in order to prevent stagnation."

I should have expected as much from my prior knowledge of him. I give a nod. "That is acceptable."

"Very well," Sardill says. "Then let us do this."

It's mostly Sardill doing the work here, as he's more experienced with enchantments. We carefully weave the spell into place, ensuring that it will trigger properly and that nothing might disrupt it, dispel it, or prevent it from functioning. This whole process takes several hours to complete.

"It is done," Sardill says finally. "I hope that it is not needed."

"Me, too," I say.

A particularly nasty plague erupts on the planet Ferenginar. Perhaps, since the inhabitants aren't human, they respond differently, or it's simply a different disease to begin with. Saulot goes off to try to put a stop to it and attempt to save the Ferengi.

I don't know much about the Ferengi, but they were quite eager for the trade opportunities allying themselves with me would grant. But now, they are all whimpering pathetically and begging for help wherever they can get it. Some of them wind up throwing in their lot with Nurgle in desparation. I have my Space Marines ruthlessly clear out anyone that decides to convert, however. The last thing I need is Nurgle-worshipping Ferengi, and the examples are making it clear that they may as well die as convert to Nurgle.

Then, as I watch Saulot from a distance cleansing a group of diseased aliens, I sense a disturbing presence emerging nearby. I send Saulot a quick warning moments before a powerful demon emerges a hundred meters away from him. It's massively bloated, foul and disease-ridden, and its very appearance causes even Saulot to flinch away.

"Ah, little bloodsucker," says the demon. "Do you not appreciate these small gifts of Nurgle? Does your kind not take delight in death and decay?"

"I'm not the kind of bloodsucker you're thinking of, foul demon," Saulot replies. "My clan seeks to help people and fight your evil kind!"

"Oh? Is it truly help you offer? I hear the cries of gratitude from these people, appreciation for the gifts of Nurgle, and here you come to silence them."

"That's insane," Saulot says. "And I'm going to stop this right here and now."

Saulot's third eye focuses on the greater demon, and he brings down a burst of holy power. The creature doesn't even seem to notice the pain, although the attack might or might not have caused some damage.

The streets around the demon run knee-deep with some unidentifiable, diseased, brownish-green liquid. Saulot makes a face as he holds his shields steady and wades through it to approach the creature. The greater demon laughs, a rumbling, echoing laugh that shakes its pustulent belly. A horde of small, filthy demons scrambles forth through the slime, intent upon infesting anything they can get their claws upon.

I open up a flow of power to Saulot, and tep to him, "Use whatever you need to destroy this thing!"

"Will do," Saulot replies.

Combining my innate power and his, Saulot calls forth a blast wave of holy fire to cleanse the area before him. The nurglings die before him with high-pitched squealing sounds.

"Ah, bloodsucker," the greater demon says. "You think yourself immune to disease? I should not withhold the joys of Father Nurgle from one such as you. Come forth, and receive your gift!"

"I'd rather die," Saulot says, incinerating another wave of nurglings with a flash of white fire.

Saulot is getting close to the Great Unclean One now, but before he can call forth more powers, the demon spews a column of pestilent vomit upon him. It laughs as Saulot shudders and tries to clear it out of his eyes.

"Let me hear your cries of pleasure, little one," the demon says. "Delight in the gifts of Father Nurgle, and give him your soul!"

Saulot doesn't even bother to reply this time. He focuses his third eye upon the Great Unclean One and brings forth a steady stream of silver flames down upon the creature. The demon laughs as its forth is slowly melted away by the intensity of the holy fire, never giving any indication that it can feel the terrible pain.

When it's finally dead, Saulot wavers on his feet unsteadily. I tell him, "Hold on, I'll get you out of there."

Using the power of the Nexus, I summon him directly in front of me into my home. Saulot looks at me with concern and wheezes, "Don't touch me."

I use a careful application of holy power to cleanse the surroundings, removing the last traces of the disgusting filth covering and dripping from Saulot. "There," I say. "Are you alright?"

Saulot shakes his head. "No... that monster infected me with... something. I don't know what it is, but I can feel it coursing through my blood and trying to latch onto my very soul. I'm not sure if even I can cure this thing. You're going to have to kill me."

I look at him in alarm. What is this horrific thing that even Saulot cannot cure? "Isn't there something that can be done?" I ask desparately.

"Please, Aviel... I don't want to lose my soul to that demon god... I fear it may already be too late."

Quickly, I tap Sardill for advice, who replies, "You should absorb his soul before Nurgle can have the chance to."

I sigh and relate Sardill's advice to Saulot, who just nods. "Do it. Please. Don't let it end like this."

Seeing Saulot, of all people, so panicked, breaks my hesitation. "Alright," I say, reaching out to open the bond between us. Saulot relaxes under my touch, surrendering himself to me in complete, absolute trust.

"Thank you," he whispers.

I engulf his body with cleansing holy flames, purging the infection with ruthless surety as I separate his soul from the taint and draw it into me. In the end, nothing remains of his body, but I cradle his soul within me carefully, holding it gently. It's pure and clean. I acted quickly enough to save that much of him, at least.

"Make him yours, Aviel," Sardill's voice murmurs in my mind. "Consume his power and add him to the strength of your soul."

"But, I have his soul here," I reply. "I can still feel his consciousness within me. Isn't there still some way to resurrect him like this?"

"You weaken yourself in an attempt to save one who has given himself over to you and begged you to kill him," Sardill teps. "He will not blame you if you do this. He is dead already. You have already killed him."

"No, Sardill, this is wrong. I will not kill him out of hand if there's even the slightest chance I can still save him."

"You've already saved him," Sardill replies. "All he wished was to be spared the fate of Nurgle taking his soul and transforming him into something he hates."

"No. I won't do this. I will not give up while there is still hope."

Sardill sighs in my mind. "Fine. Suit yourself. You can restore him the same way that we restored the El'dari on Lezaria. Provide a new body of some sort and have Harmony transform it into himself again."

"Why would you suggest that I absorb it if it's so easy?" I ask.

"Because nothing comes without a price," Sardill replies. "There will be a price to you if you do this. You will be weaker, as you will need to supply a piece of your own soul to work this magic. You do not have a specially prepared key that can do it for you."

"I can accept that," I reply.

"As you wish." Sardill teps with a mental shrug.

I go to make preparations and head into Harmony and Amanda's changing salon. They're in right now, and don't appear to be busy at the moment. They do still get a fair amount of business from people needing mutations cured, or the occasional person who wants a stable one. I explain to them what I intend to do.

"Ah, Saulot?" Harmony says. "Yeah, we can do that. Even easier than the El'dari were, since I've actually seen him before."

"What do you need to make a body out of?" I ask.

Amanda smirks faintly, then without another word, the two of them link powers, and concentrate their energies on a nearby table. They carefully rebuild bones, muscles, organs, nerves, skin... they take their time about it to make sure it's done perfectly, but I'm certain they could do it quicker if they were in a hurry. Either way, however, I'm impressed.

"Cousin, are you sure he was that well-endowed?"

"No, but he won't mind, I'm sure," Harmony says lightly.

I purposefully don't look at the naked body's groin area and instead focus on drawing forth the soul I have carefully cradled within myself. It's difficult, and I'm not used to doing magic of this sort. I place the soul into the empty, waiting body, channeling power into it to hook everything up properly and get it functioning again.

The soul settles into the new nervous system. The heart beats, unsteadily at first, but strongly. The lungs take breath, gasping in surprise. The eyes snap open and stare at the ceiling for a moment, then look around the room, looking at Harmony, at Amanda, at me.

"You... What did you do?" Saulot says. "I'm... alive?"

He quickly realizes that not only is he alive, but he's also naked, and snags a white cloth from nearby to cover his crotch with. He self-consciously blushes with embarrassment at seeing three lovely young (or young-looking, at least) women all staring intently at his naked body.

"Yep," Harmony says brightly. "We resurrected you."

"I- well, thank you. I didn't expect..."

He trails off as he sees me wavering on my feet. I'm exhausted from the exertion, and the only reason I'm still standing is the large amount of energy flowing in from my bonds to support me. That drained me a lot more than I had expected.

"Aviel? Are you alright?" Saulot says, getting up to put his hand on my shoulder to steady me, and forgetting about his makeshift loincloth in the process.

"Yeah... I'll be fine," I say. "That just... took a lot out of me."

"Ah, true resurrection without a body," Saulot says, nodding in understanding. "Right, that it would."

"You'd better lay down before you fall down," Amanda suggests, and Saulot guides me over to rest on one of the tables for the moment. Then grabs his cloth again.

"Do you ladies have any clothes around here?" Saulot asks them. "And you brought me back naked intentionally, didn't you."

Harmony does her best to look innocent, to which Saulot just glares at her. "Oh, fine, fine," Harmony says. She pulls open a drawer and tosses a loose robe at him. "Here you go."

"Hospital clothes, but at least it's clothes," Saulot mutters, wrapping it around himself. "Alright, ladies. I'm going to take her home. Thanks again for your good work..."

He sounds like he's still not sure what to make of it. As he goes over to pick me up in his arms, I slip out of consciousness.

* * *

I slowly wake sometime later. It's hard to tell the passing of time in Til'aris. The pale blue light that passes for a sun moves about in the sky very randomly, and sometimes doesn't bother moving at all. It's hovering in such a position at the moment as to be casting a shaft of blue light through my bedroom window and straight onto my pillow.

"Ah, you're awake?" Saulot says quietly. He's sitting near my bed, watching over me as I sleep. Although at least he hasn't been there the entire time, as he went to get some normal clothes in the meantime.

"Saulot," I murmur wearily, smiling as I see him. I sit up with some effort. It's funny, all that energy that I have access to, and it doesn't help much when I spend so much of my own energy.

"Here, you should eat something," Saulot says. He brings over a tray of food to set on my lap. "It'll help replenish your energy."

"Aw, Saulot, breakfast in bed?" I say with a grin. There's hot vegetable soup, and sandwiches with fresh tomato, lettuce, and cheese on grain bread.

Saulot shrugs. "You very nearly killed yourself trying to save me," he says. "It's the least I could do."

"Well, you would have done the same for me, wouldn't you?" I say, taking a bite of sandwich.

Saulot gives a nod. "Yeah, I would, in a heartbeat. The Korata have always sacrificed themselves for others. I just don't tend to expect someone else to be willing to sacrifice themselves for me..."

I'm hungrily devouring the food he brought me as if I haven't eaten in a week. In reality, it's probably been a lot longer than a week, but my magical energy has been high enough to sustain me for so long that I rarely bother to actually eat anymore. It's probably a bad habit, really, but it's easy to forget about.

"Well, you'd better get used to it, because for you, I'd do it again, in a heartbeat," I say.

"While I appreciate the thought, I'd really rather not have you actually dying for my sake," Saulot says. "But I'd like to know why you would do such a thing for me."

"Why should I not?" I reply. "I can't imagine letting you die. I'd miss you if you were gone. I've gotten used to having you around..."

Saulot chuckles softly, giving a grin. He leans against the wall, folding his arms across his chest, and looks into my eyes with a knowing gaze, as if sharing some secret joke with himself.

"What?" I say, raising an eyebrow. "Did I say something weird?"

"Heh, no, it's just..." He pauses for a moment thoughtfully. "You know how magic is affected by emotion? Like how you cast a fire spell more effectively if you're angry, right?" I nod to him, and he continues. "Healing spells, on the other hand, are more effective with positive emotions. You can more easily heal someone that you care about than someone you despise, for instance..."

"What are you saying?" I wonder.

"Oh, just that the magic you used to save me, both in drawing out my soul and in resurrecting me, was exceptionally powerful. Most people would not be able to take in the soul of another being and hold it in their body without merging with it, unless they're extremely skilled, or have good reason to want to save the person."

"So... I care about you," I say. It's just a statement of fact. Of course I do.

"Just saying," Saulot says, grinning broadly at me.

"And why are you grinning like a fool?" I ask.

"Oh, I was just wondering if you'd figure it out on your own," he says.

"Now you're just teasing me. You're toying with me."

Saulot laughs aloud.

"Although I have to admit, I've never seen you so cheerful before. It's a nice change."

"You've saved my life, what is it, twice now?" he says. "I think it's a bit more than that you're used to having me around."

Well, I guess he's right about that. I can see clearly now what he's been dancing around and hinting at, and I smirk at him. "You're right," I tell him. "I'm in love with you."

Saulot's grin broadens even further. "Was wondering how long it would take you. Maybe I should just point out now that our bond works in reverse as well? I can sense your emotions, just as you can sense mine. It's stronger now than it was before. I don't think anything could break it now."

Curiously, I examine the bond between us, and sense the emotions coming from him. I feel joy, happiness, pleasure... love. "Oh..." I say.

"So you know, I'm perfectly content with the way things are," Saulot says, reaching out to lightly touch my cheek with his fingertips. "Just please don't kill yourself over me? I've gotten used to you being around, and I might miss you if you were gone."

After a bit, I realize I've forgotten about the food entirely, and my soup has gotten cold. But before I can channel to warm it up again, Saulot does it for me, as if it were only natural.

"I was afraid you might have lost your powers, not being a vampire anymore," I say.

"That wasn't a power I ever had," he says. "I lack the powers of the blood, but I still have the powers of the soul. The powers you've given me and taught me. You've showed me ways to use power that I never would have thought of before, some of which I would not even have believed possible. It's strange sometimes how much an outsider can open your eyes, and you realize how much your vision has been clouded by your environment."

"So you don't have any healing or protective powers anymore?" I ask.

Saulot shakes his head. "No, I do. Just not the Korata ones. I've had to adapt them a bit to not rely on the blood, but that was really less difficult than I would have thought. I think I'd underestimated the potential of the so-called mortal mages."

"What about the aging part?" I say. "Although to be honest, I've never met a mage over a certain power level who was still affected by natural aging."

He gives a nod. "Yes, with access to your Time Magic and what I know of regenerative and healing abilities, that should not be a problem for me, either."

"I'm glad," I say. "I'd hate to have brought you back like this only to lose you again in a mere fifty or a hundred years." I grin at him.

"Oh, believe me. I intend to be around for a lot longer than that."


	13. Peace and Plenty

**Peace and Plenty**

We call a meeting between our own leaders and those of the shapeshifters to discuss how we're going to handle putting a stop to Nurgle's forces. When I and Saulot arrive in the conference room, Vistri and Caine are already present and waiting for us. Caine gives a very odd look in our direction.

"Saulot?" Caine says. "I'd heard something had happened to you, but I didn't expect to see you walking around as a mortal again. And holding Aviel's hand."

Saulot releases my hand a little self-consciously, then smirks broadly. "I wasn't exactly planning on this, myself, but you've got to count your blessings wherever you can find them."

I explain, "Saulot got hit with a Nurgle plague. I destroyed his old infected body and had Amanda and Harmony construct a new one and resurrected him."

"I... see" Caine says. "Well, I suppose I should be grateful, in that case. I may have lost a childe here, but at least I kept a friend."

Saulot grins. "I was afraid for a moment that you might be upset or something."

"Nah, why should I?" Caine replies. "Whatever makes you happy." He gives a look between me and Saulot. Caine does seem a little sad and confused, but he says nothing more on the matter for the moment. The others are starting to arrive.

With the help of the shapeshifters, we manage to halt the plague. A lot of people, both human and alien, have wound up dead, including the vast majority of the Ferengi, and we had to take some fairly ruthless measures to stop the spread at some points, but in the end, we prevail. And Mortarion's Death Guard are beaten back, forcing them to retreat into the Ethereal Plane. One more crisis done for the moment.

We take a well-earned breather. I've been starting to use magical gemstones to slowly raise my energy levels, but that method will take a lot of time. Still, I'd rather take that slow trickle than not have it at all. I also remember to start eating real food again, especially as I have someone to share meals with who is quite happy to indulge in such a simple pleasure again.

I take the time of relative peace to turn my attention toward the development of Lezaria. Things have gone radically differently than I had anticipated, but Lezaria still seems to be turning in the same general direction, due in part to its isolation. The El'dari being present, however, are a different factor, but they mostly keep to themselves on the northern continent.

They aren't alone up there forever, however, as many of the mutants born of the War of Transformation have been seeking new homes to escape prejudice on Albrynnia. The El'dari are hesitant about welcoming them into their territory, even moreso than about sharing their planet with so many humans in the first place. They're far less welcoming of the other races than they are of the zephyli among them. At this rate, with the way the El'dari are trying to isolate themselves, they're going to wind up driving themselves into extinction yet again, I fear.

I and Saulot decide to pay them a visit and try to steer them away from this self-destructive course. We teleport in to some distance outside of Eldamar and approach on foot.

We don't get very far before a group of armed El'dari appear before us to surround us and point weapons at us. "Halt!" their leader says in heavily-accented English. "What is your business here?"

"I can speak your language," I reply in the local El'dari dialect. "We came to speak with your leader."

"Who are you?" the El'dari demands.

"I am Aviel Tintallia," I say. "I made certain that you were restored from within the trees after my allies defeated the Shael'Morenni."

"How did you know of such a thing?" he asks. "You have the look of neither human nor El'dari. How did you learn of the method we used to escape the detection of the Shael'Morenni?"

"Vistri is my friend, and I was there, watching," I say. "I was there on Vel'kira, and watched it tear itself apart. I was there on Til'raine, and watched it be destroyed. I've seen enough destruction in my life, and I don't care to watch you destroy yourselves now after all this. That's why I wish to speak with your leader."

Reluctantly, the El'dari back down. "Very well. I believe you. We shall take you to the Seeker. Do not give us cause to eject you by force."

The squadron of El'dari proceeds to lead us through the city of Eldamar. The place is, one might say, bustling in a subdued manner. The El'dari live in buildings typical for their kind on the floor of the forest, while the zephyli dwell in the upper layers in their own kinds of buildings. The place looks a bit more segregated than I might have hoped for, but given the differing biologies of the two species, I suppose it should not be surprising. I had, however, hoped that exposure to the zephyli would make them more accepting of humans as well.

The Seeker is an El'dari woman with silvery-golden hair and very pale eyes. "Aviel Tintallia," she greets me. "A strange one that comes to us. You are more than you seem to be, and less than you wish to be. I have heard of your exploits in Til'aris and beyond."

"Seeker," I say, giving a short bow.

"I hope that you have not come here attempting to convert more of my people into your cult," she says. "We have already lost enough of our own to your corruption as it is."

I frown. "That is not what I am trying to do."

"That shall remain to be seen. Tell me, then, why have you come?"

"I'm concerned that the El'dari are destroying themselves," I say. "I do not wish this to happen. But I've seen the way you isolate yourselves here. How you would reject contact with other races. Even rejecting others of your own kind? Would you truly turn away El'dari solely because they chose to come to Til'aris of their own free will, or they just happened to have been born on the remnants of Vel'kira?"

"I do not trust you, nor this cult of yours," the Seeker says. "All of these places have been tainted by your touch, and those wayward souls that dwell within are forever lost to us because of it."

I sigh, and put my hand to my forehead. I had forgotten how stubborn and bigoted El'dari can be at times. Dealing with them is frequently an exercise in frustration and quite trying to one's patience. But I must be patient. I have the time to make them see. I still my annoyance and calm my anger.

"I swear to you, Seeker, that I am not an agent of the Void, I do not serve the forces of Chaos, I am not a harbinger of corruption and destruction," I say. "Nor, for that matter, do I seek to be worshipped as a god, nor did I intend to start a cult. These words are used among the superstitious who do not understand what it is that I am doing, who cannot comprehend the sorts of power I use. I have brought them together in a magical network to allow them to share their power amongst one another, grant protection and healing where needed, and to put a stop to those who seek to corrupt and destroy."

The Seeker gazes at me, quietly waiting for me to finish, although her eyes seem to burrow into my soul as she does so. "So you say," she says. "I am not so certain that I am convinced, however."

"Seeker," Saulot says, stepping in. "You should be grateful that Aviel is so patient and forgiving. You are insulting one who has done nothing but selflessly work to aid and protect others, who very nearly gave her own life without hesitation solely to save one such as me. All of those who came to join her did so freely and willingly, and were not corrupted nor coerced into her service. And now, you should be grateful that Aviel's forces stopped the advancement of the plague before it reached your world as well. Because the way you've got yourselves set up right now, so isolated and alone, it would have destroyed all of you without anyone to help you."

The Seeker looks thoughtfully to Saulot, and says, "You speak our tongue well, for a human." She pauses for a moment. "Very well. I shall meditate upon what you have said. Now leave me."

That's about the best I can hope for at the moment, really. I take Saulot and head out of Eldamar again, and return to Til'aris.

"What is it about elves that makes them such arrogant, self-righteous pricks at times?" Saulot says, shaking his head.

I snicker softly. "The same thing that makes vampires the same way. Centuries of practice at being haughty and better-than-you. And then add in a heavy dose of pointless melancholy to where they'll spend the next few millennia wailing about the near-extinction of their species..."

"Oh, I hope I never acted like that," Saulot says.

"Heh. Not too frequently at least," I say teasingly. "Alright, talking with El'dari has made me hungry. I feel like we just spent a day and a half fruitlessly banging our heads against a rock. Hmm, fruit... Let's check out that nice fruity place that just opened up on the edge of the Grove of Earth."

Saulot laughs and says, "Alright then."

About a week later, I receive a message calling me back to Eldamar, alone. I head over that way and am greeted by a zephyl who directs me to a small zephyl-style building halfway up a tree. "Please wait here," he says, and flies off.

Very strange, I think. Do the zephyli want to see me themselves, for some reason? I glance outside the building to see that the the floating silver disc I had ridden up has gone away. Well, it's not like I'm actually trapped here, since I can teleport, so I'm not really too concerned.

I settle in to wait for a bit. The building is small and cramped, made for creatures somewhat smaller than me. I can't imagine that the El'dari voluntarily spend much time in zephyl-style buildings, unless they've started building larger ones to accomodate them or something. There's a low table and a couple of cushions, and not much else in this building.

Since no one seems to be immediately coming, I set a quick beacon ward to alert me if anyone should approach the building. I take a seat on top of one of the cushions and let my eyes slip shut to meditate for a bit. I let myself tune in to the gentle hum of life in the forest. It's quiet, tranquil, very peaceful. I would not wish anything to harm Lezaria to disturb this peace.

But what might happen from here on out? I fear what might become of the El'dari, to have come to this point, and for what? Is it any different from all the other races I have tried to save and failed? I did the best I could, but in the end, there was only so much I could do. I could not save everyone. But why not? Why can't I save everyone? Does it really matter? Everyone dies eventually, in the end. Yet I still shamelessly go out of my way to save a single life, a single soul. And really, I do not regret it. There's an old saying, to save one soul is to save the entire world. So long as I've saved even one, even one solitary person, then perhaps all that I have worked for has really mattered.

My train of thought is interrupted by the ward going off, bringing me back to alertness. An old, gray zephyl has landed on the ledge outside the little tree-hut, and walks slowly inside. I also notice that it is dark outside, when it had been morning when I arrived. I had been so deep in meditation that I did not notice the passing of many hours.

"You are the Seeker of Til'aris," he says.

"I- well, I suppose you could say that," I reply. "Who might you be?"

"I am the Seeker of Eldamar."

I raise an eyebrow. "Isn't that the El'dari woman I spoke to some days ago?"

"She is the Seeker of the El'dari of Eldamar. I am the Seeker of the Zephyli of Eldamar. There is no solitary wisdom. All things are connected."

"Are you trying to tell me that you provide wisdom to both the zephyli and the El'dari, and the El'dari Seeker also provides wisdom to both the zephyli and El'dari?"

"That is correct," he says.

This is surprising to me. I had not thought, from looking at the city, that the El'dari and zephyli were so well integrated with one another. Perhaps each merely prefers their own style of buildings because it's what they're used to. The zephyli might not be anymore comfortable living on the ground than the El'dari would high up in the trees. Perhaps that may change in succeeding generations. They have not been here for very long yet.

"So it was you who wished to speak with me, then, I take it?" I ask.

The zephyl nods. "That, and I wished to test you a bit. I am surprised at the level of patience you showed at being forced to wait all day. Many that I have encountered would have been upset at such a thing."

"It was nothing," I say. "I didn't mind. This place is very relaxing."

He chuckles softly. "I can see that there is more potential in you than my counterpart gives you credit for. I have something to ask of you, as a gesture of good faith. My people have legends of a set of books of magical instruction that were hidden away somewhere on this world before the destructive machines came. I would like to request that you find them and bring them to my counterpart."

I nod. "Ah, right. I know the books of which you speak, and I shall do so promptly."

"Thank you," the zephyl Seeker says. "Also, one more thing. I would like you to take my granddaughter with you and look after her for a bit. Keep her near you at all times, please. She is eager to see the world outside the forest. Do not let her come to any harm."

"Of course," I say. "I would be honored to do so."

What the Seeker failed to tell me is that his granddaughter is the zephyl equivalent of a small child, of perhaps five or six in human years. She is full of energy and wants to see anything and everything, and requires constant attention or she will find some trouble to get herself into. Is he trying to test my patience some more? Well, if that's the case, I'm certainly not going to want to disappoint him.

"Aviel?" Saulot says as I step into my home in Til'aris. "Why do you have a baby monkey with you?"

"I'm hungry!" Keera squeals in the zephyl tongue. "Want food!"

"Alright, then, let's go get you something to eat," I say. I lead the young zephyl out to get something to eat, and tep to Saulot, "Could you do me a favor and take the original copies of the El'dari magic books to Eldamar, please?" We've long since copied and translated them, so there's really no need for us to keep the originals around in Til'aris any longer.

"Alright," Saulot replies, and goes to see about that while I keep the little monkey occupied.

I bring Keera to the fruit place near the Grove of Earth and get her a bowl full of mixed berries. As she munches on them more messily than I had thought possible, she says, "You do magic here, yes? I be great mage someday! I learn big power and make stuff go boom!"

"I'm sure you will," I say. Her aura doesn't read anything spectacular. She's just an ordinary mensch, without innate magic... just like I was. If she really wants to be a mage, she's going to have to work hard at it.

I have to wonder if this wasn't really just a test of patience, but of trust. I could easily bond her now and give her everything she could possibly wish for, but I wouldn't do that. She's not mature enough to be able to make that choice of her own free will. Never mind that giving magic into the hands of a prepubescent child is extremely dangerous. It's bad enough that most inborn mages have their powers awaken at puberty, and teenagers running around with powers can be irresponsible too. But powers naturally awakening in children is highly unusual, though I've known of a few cases where someone could use magic from birth.

No, I won't be one to be teaching her magic just yet. I continue to show her the sights of Til'aris, whatever she wants to see at any given moment, and try to keep her out of trouble. After a while, she grows tired and I take her to my house for a nap.

"Busy day?" Saulot says quietly.

"Heh," I reply. "And I thought human children were energetic... How'd it go with the El'dari?"

"They were quite pleased to get their books back," Saulot says. "So far as I could tell, at any rate, in between being somewhat insulted that we had 'stolen' the books in the first place. But I think it might have mollified them a bit."

"I'll take what I can get," I say with a snort.

"The little thing got all worn out already?" he says. "So tell me, why exactly are you babysitting a flying monkey?"

"The Seeker of the Zephyli asked me to," I reply. "Her name is Keera, and she's his granddaughter, apparently."

"Did he say why?" Saulot asks.

"No, but I think he's testing me," I say. "I have no clue about what, though."

He raises an eyebrow. "Generally one doesn't 'test' someone with their own granddaughter unless they already think they can trust them to succeed at it regardless of the circumstances."

"There's a point to that," I say thoughtfully.

"So, how long is this for, exactly?"

"He didn't say, exactly," I reply. "He just said 'for a bit'."

"Then how are you supposed to know when you should be taking her back to Eldamar?" Saulot wonders.

"I'm guessing when she gets bored and asks to go home," I say.

"Good enough, I suppose."

Over the next several days, I finish up showing Keera around Til'aris, then take her to the Seven Planes, and to Earth, and to a couple of the other colonies. I show her wonders the likes of which no zephyl has ever seen before. And no longer does she wish to be merely a mage. Each day, she wishes to be a pilot, or a doctor, or a general, or even a werewolf. I can see in her many paths before her, and assure her that no matter what she ultimately chooses to be, that I have no doubt that she will succeed at it.

Finally, after about ten days or so, Keera says, "I'm tired. I want to go home. I miss Grandpa."

"Alright, Keera," I say. "Let's take you back to Eldamar, then."

I return with her to Eldamar and hand her off to her grandfather. "Fly along now, little one," the Seeker says. "Your mother's made a pie, and you wouldn't want to miss it, would you?" He doesn't even manage to finish before the young zephyl is darting off at top speed up through the trees. He turns to me and asks, "So, what did you learn?"

"There's potential in each being for many things," I reply. "Nothing is set in stone. No path need be fixed. There are always choices to be made."

"Mm," the zephyl says. "The young have much to teach us, if we are willing to listen. They will open our eyes to possibilities we may never have seen otherwise. It is merely to the wisdom of the elders to choose which paths are acceptable and which are not."

He moves over to the edge of the balcony, looking out over the city of Eldamar below. Not a massive city, but sprawling in its own right, in a way. But when I look at it now, I see more connections than I had before. Before, I had seen El'dari and zephyli, separated, segregated. Now, I see that isn't so. El'dari architecture makes way for zephyl construction, and they blend together seamlessly in places. I realize suddenly that they aren't so different after all. Zephyli sing their buildings into being, convincing the trees to grow in a certain way, while El'dari sing their buildings into existence out of the Ethereal Plane. Before me, I see both methods working together in harmony, like two very different instruments accompanying one another in the same song.

The Seeker says, "El'dari might live for millennia, while zephyli rarely see more than forty years in their lives. We are forever children to them, and we have learned much from one another already. They teach us, and we teach them."

"So why are they trying to isolate themselves so much?" I ask.

"Much has changed for the El'dari in recent years," the Seeker says. "They are not used to dealing with change on such a rapid scale. They fear the further disruption that would be caused by changing their ways to accomodate outsiders."

"They wouldn't need to change their ways..." I start.

"Would they not?" the Seeker says. "There would be contact. Some of their people might choose to live amongst the outsiders. Some outsiders might wish to live among the El'dari for whatever reason. There might be trade. They have just started growing used to working and living with the zephyli, and now this would force them to relearn everything all over again. But would that necessarily a bad thing? Perhaps, perhaps not."

"They're going to need to if they ever want to interact with the galaxy as a whole," I say. "Things have changed a lot while they were asleep and dreaming."

"We zephyli have long isolated ourselves as well," the Seeker says. "But primarily for not knowing what else might be out there or how to reach it even if we did. We feared the nightmares of the dreamers. The machines of death, that would bring destruction of all life. But we only understood that they came from the sky, from the stars. We did not know how one might fly so high as to reach the stars."

"That's quite the dream," I say.

The Seeker says, "In our eyes, we were the dreamers, and they were the dream. In their eyes, they were the dreamers and we were the dream. But in the end, we are both the dreamers and the dream, and we complete each other. These outsiders... they were not a part of the dream, and yet perhaps we can still make them a part of it. We should not reject strangers out of hand solely because they are strangers."

"So you don't want to continue to isolate yourselves?"

"We zephyli never wished to isolate ourselves," he says. "We have explored all over this vast continent, and when we saw there were no others like us, we always came back to the forest. We missed the song of the trees." He points to me. "Do not fear for us, Seeker of Til'aris. We zephyli will guide the El'dari into the future."

It seems like a bizarre thing to say, but I'll take his word for it. I bow to him politely and say, "I thank you for sharing your wisdom with me, Seeker of the Zephyli of Eldamar."

"Go in peace, Seeker of Til'aris," he says, returning the bow, and then turning to fly away.

I return to Til'aris with a lot on my mind. "Ah, got rid of the little monkey already?" Saulot says.

"Yeah," I say. "And got an earful from her grandpa. Who knew that a zephyl could talk so long about philosophy and wisdom?"

"Perhaps there's more to them than we'd realized."

I nod in agreement. "That there is."


	14. Kairos

**Kairos**

I lay in my bed next to Saulot, happy after a delicious meal of rice with chicken and vegetables, and slowly slip off into sleep. My mind drifts away, and I dream... or at least, I think I'm dreaming. What else would this be?

A strange landscape surrounds me. Floating rocks within a swirling black and purple void. Lightning flashes in odd colors in the distance. I'm standing on one of these rocks, looking around at the general vicinity. What sort of place is this? It's somewhere in the Ethereal Plane, no doubt, it has to be.

Voices echo around me. "Are you happy with the choices you have made? Or do you think you could have done better?" It's Tzeentch. "Did not everything work out quite as you had hoped?"

"Perhaps I could have done some things better," I reply honestly.

"Perhaps you should go back and try again, then?" Tzeentch replies, almost seeming to be laughing at me. "I've been enjoying watching you, and seeing what choices you might make."

"What do you want, Tzeentch?" I ask. "What do you really want?"

"Oh, nothing more and nothing less than what I have always wanted," Tzeentch says. "I seek the Trayziak Tatalyar."

"Uttermost Confusion?" I say. "Or Ultimate Chaos?" I'm familiar with the term, although I have not heard it actually used very often. It was used by some Elkandu to describe the branching nature of the universe, although I believe the term originated on Lezaria.

"Nothing less and nothing more," Tzeentch says. "Time splits itself a million times over, a billion, a trillion, countless, untold times, so many choices, so many universes, one could never see them all, one could never imagine them all. How do you think the universe compensates for wayward time travelers like you? You think you come to help people and make a better future, but your every choice creates a new universe, your every possibility of a choice creates a whole new set of universes with their own possibilities. What do you really hope to accomplish?"

"It doesn't matter," I say stubbornly. "If I've helped just one person in one timeline, it makes it all worth it, doesn't it?"

Laughter echoes in the Void. "This is what you keep telling yourself so that you might go forward, but I do not believe that you are truly so deluded. No, you realize the truth, much as you hate to admit it. So long as you have choices, there will be good and evil in the universe, there will be light and darkness, failure and success, success out of failure and failure out of success, nothing and everything that you will and might do matters."

"I don't understand," I mutter in confusion.

"Do you truly not understand, or do you not wish to understand? It is a difficult thing, perhaps, to bring your mind around, that choice is an illusion. No matter what choice you make, the other choice actually happens as well. Can you justify bringing into existence what you believe to be a good universe, when you also bring into existence as many bad universes?"

"I- What?" I say. "That makes no sense."

"Doesn't it? Did you think your choices truly mattered? Or did you merely make them so that you did not die a thousand times over?"

Images rush through my mind, feelings, sensations. I see things that happened, things that might have been, dark futures that I had avoided where my own death was immanent. I see myself dying, over and over. I feel myself dying. I'm screaming, clawing at my head with my fingertips to make the images go away. To force away the memories of things that did not happen...

"Stop it. Stop it. Make it stop. Make it go away. No more. No more!"

Tzeentch's laughter echoes as the visions fade away. "Don't you see, my precious daughter? Don't you see how much chaos you have wrought simply by existing?"

"I'm not your daughter," I snap. "Why do you keep calling me that?"

"Oh, surely not. Not in the mundane, biological sense."

"Then what?"

"You are a catalyst, Aviel," Tzeentch says. "Not in the magical sense. You are a bringer of change. Where you go, things happen. You shake up the status quo. When you are done, nothing is ever the same again. You've created a trillion trillion universes, whether you realize it or not."

"Why did you bring me here, Tzeentch?" I ask.

"To force you to make a choice..."

I realize suddenly, in horror, that I'm not just here in a dream, still sleeping in my bed next to Saulot. I'm actually here, in the flesh. I feel my body warping painfully beneath me as I'm flooded with mutagenic energy. My limbs twist and deform, and I find myself screaming in an inhuman voice.

I hear Tzeentch's voice, echoing all around me as well as all throughout me. "Make your choice now, my beloved daughter. Make it well..."

I bring up Harmony's Change Magic. I use it to return my body to its normal form again and resist any further attempts at mutation.

I call upon my own fire magic. I'm not sure how much it will help here. I mix in some holy power as well, and pour energy from my bonds into raw destructive force.

"Die in fire, Chaos-spawn!" I shout, engulfing the world in flame. This doesn't really help, however.

I call upon the one power that might help here that is my own.

I stop time.

Time halts. Time moves backwards. Flows in reverse. Twists and tangles upon itself, and I am myself again, as I always was, as I always shall be.

I've refrained from using Time Magic much since arriving on Til'raine. But this is where I draw the line. Enough is enough. With this power at my disposal, not even a god can stop me.

Through my bonds, I call for help from my friends. This is a god I'm going up against here. I can't face this alone.

Figures shimmer into existence around me. They followed my magical signature through the Ethereal Plane straight to me. Saulot flickers into view at my side, and says, "We're with you, Aviel."

"No shit," Harmony says. "No two-bit son of a magical swirly is going to mess with any friend of mine."

I bring up Sardill's Catalysm power. I put a stop to the magical energy Tzeentch was inflicting upon me. I turn it to my own purposes.

And then I turn my attention back to Tzeentch. He's just a very powerful spirit, is he not? And souls and spirits are just concentrations of magical energy. I can absorb this like any other, can't I?

"It's over, Tzeentch," I say. "I've had enough of this, and I've had enough of you."

I reach out with magical energy and take a hold of the swirling, chaotic knot that makes up this so-called Chaos God. A being of raw power, born of emotion. Not even a real person, living and breathing, a spirit that has never been alive.

Really, it's even easier than drawing out mana from a gemstone, or the soul of a living being. There's nothing to anchor it to. The only problem is that there's an astronomical amount of energy there. It's like sucking up an ocean through a straw. But, unlike with gemstones and more like with a soul, I'm able to absorb the energy without the need to take the time for it to "digest".

I can't even tell if he's fighting me, squirming, or just swirling chaotically at random. But then I hear his voice again in my head.

"Ah, you see, my daughter... I chose you," Tzeentch says. "My little star of hope... Be what you were always meant to be..."

Power fills me, floods me, flows through me, rushing, overflowing, spilling, uncontrollable. I don't spend more than a moment to stop and wonder why. It's too much... I must focus. I see everything, feel everything, know everything. I must concentrate. I must not let it overwhelm me.

Ascension... a trillion trillion eyes open across the galaxy. Light beyond light and dark beyond darkness. Is this what it feels like to truly be a god?

The overpowering tide of energy dissolved my physical body, but it doesn't matter anymore. I can always make another, easily. With hardly a thought, I reform myself standing where I was on the floating rock, standing between my friends, looking just as I did before, as if nothing had changed.

Now. Now that I've collected myself, I turn to think on what just happened. Tzeentch wasn't actually fighting at all. He wanted me to do that... That thought fills me with a horrible sense of dread, as if I've just made a terrible mistake.

I can still feel him there. In my head. He's a part of me and now, he will never go away. In a corner of my mind, I feel his amusement.

He's just watching me. He enjoys watching me. I cause as much chaos as he does. And he's going to make sure that I continue doing it on a massive scale.

Shit. That can't be good.

No. My mind is still my own. My power is my own.

Following the trillionth of a second that I'm panicking, I see my friends. Moving very slowly. They'd hardly seem to move at all if it weren't for my extremely heightened senses at the moment. My godly perceptions.

I sit down heavily upon the rock and put my face in my hands. Panting involuntarily. Not through any physical exhaustion, but mental and emotion strain.

"Aviel," Saulot says quietly. "What have you done?"

I feel every heartbeat of every being in the universe, throbbing. My perception is too broad. I can't do this. Not like this.

I split off a fragment of myself, and place it within this body I've made for myself. Limited, human perspectives. Still tied to me, but the link only goes one way. I can see everything she does, but she is no longer aware of the magnitude of the universe. I send her back home, to happily live out her own limited little life with Saulot. She doesn't know anything different. She doesn't know what happened here. She doesn't understand.

And I don't understand either. I can no longer conceive of that sort of life. I'm a whale that's outgrown the fishbowl. Nothing will ever be the same again. And yet, what ever existed will always exist. Aviel goes off to live her life. I am Tzeentch now.


End file.
